In Islamic Countries, Democracy Can Not Be Non-religious

[rug]

Head of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization said it is not possible for democracy in Islamic countries to be non-religious.

Saturday, November 19, 2011
International Quran News Agency
Iran

Dr Mohammad Baqer Khorramshad was speaking today, November 19, in a conference on models of Islamic democracy in view of Islamic schools of thought.

He said the conference seeks to find answers to questions like ‘what is Islamic democracy?’, ‘what are its theoretical foundations?’, ‘does it have historical precedence?’ and ‘how is it different from liberal and socialist democracy?’

He said the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran was an unprecedented event in the region and the world and its outcomes have continued to influence the regional countries and other countries.

“In the past 32 years, the socialist block , which was one of the main thought and political blocks in the world, collapsed. Now we are witnessing a series of revolutions in the Arab world. Unlike the past, the At-Tahrir Square in Cairo has become a model for uprisings in the West,” he said, adding that under such circumstances, the main motto of the Islamic Revolution, namely neither the East nor the West, appears more relevant than ever because socialism is gone and there are cracks in liberal democracy, heralding its collapse.

http://www.iqna.ir/en/news_detail.php?ProdID=900878

[MineralMan]

1. Turkey has managed it, more or less, for a long time.

Still, there is always an element that wants to end secular government. Sometimes they're in the majority; sometimes not. It's a constant source of conflict in that country, however.

[cleanhippie]

2. Democracy NEEDS to be non-religious in order to function.

Otherwise, its not a democracy. At best, it might be a democratic theocracy, but thats like North Korea calling itself the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

[msongs]

3. if it is religious it is not democracy, especially with an exclusionary religion like islam nt

[Deep13]

4. They stop being Islamic countries and instead be majority Muslim secular countries...

...like Turkey and Indonesia.

[Silent3]

5. From a source which apparently considers Iran a democracy?

Besides, the issue depends on what you mean by "democracy". Simple majoritarianism, or constitutional democracy that sets aside areas of personal liberty which are to be protected from the will of the majority?

The latter variety of democracy does not mix at all well with any kind of sectarian religious agenda.