B
brakelite
Guest
WADR I find your theory that Islam infected Christendom with a totalitarian mindset to be not only rather simplistic, but historically inaccurate. Here is link to a paper I think you would do well to consider... And good reading for anyone interested in the emergence of modern political thought and the decline of ecclesiastical power in the political realm.Now I think we all realize that Islam is a totalitarian system. I don't say just religion since Islam covers a lot more than just religious ideas. Islam also ventures into the political sphere...seeking to control every aspect of a person's life.
On a religious level...the world is seen by these as either being in submission to God (as in Islam) or else to be seen as an infidel. Fidelity is seen as being embodied only in exclusivity to it's own worldview. All else is to be converted or destroyed. This is totalitarianism in a nutshell.
Judaism on the other hand is a two tiered religion. There is the holy nation...and they who are the righteous among the nations. We know that Jews actually dissuade people from converting to Judaism...instead citing salvation by following the Noahide laws...based on a universal righteousness. And besides the Jews see their nation as the light to the other nations. Jews do NOT impose the weight of the 613 laws of Judaism on non-Jews. That is both the prerogative and responsibility that goes with being a Jew in the world.
So then Judaism is NOT totalitarian in it's out look.
So which world-view have we adopted in modern Christendom?
The totalitarian one.
The Two Swords Theory: Papacy and Empire in the Middle Ages