# Are there any Christian theocracies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097 "2006-01-02T18:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robert\_Emmett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b487fb/32.png) [@Robert\_Emmett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert_Emmett)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/21 "2006-01-03T04:54:39Z")
I don’t think the UK can be defined as a theocracy exactly. A theocracy is where the code of laws is explicitly based off of a religious document. Take the following clip from the Iranian Constitution if 1979: > [@Iranian Islamic Republican Constitution](#): > > Article 4 [Islamic Principle] > > All civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria. This principle applies absolutely and generally > to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations, and the wise persons of the Guardian Council are judges in this matter. > [@Iranian Islamic Republican Constitution](#): > > Article 10 [Family Principle] > > Since the family is the fundamental unit of Islamic society, all laws, regulations, and pertinent programs must tend to facilitate the formation of a family, and to safeguard its sanctity and the stability of family relations on the basis of the law and the ethics of Islam. > [@"Iranian Islamic Constitution](#): > > Article 11 [Unity of Islam Principle] > > In accordance with the sacred verse of the Koran “This your community is a single community, and I am your Lord, so worship Me” [21:92], all Muslims form a single nation, and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran have the duty of formulating its general policies with a view to cultivating the friendship and unity of all Muslim peoples, and it must constantly strive to bring about the political, economic, and cultural unity of the Islamic world. I think we can all agree Iran is a theocracy (I’m aware we’re speaking of Christian theologies, but I’m using Iran as a model for any theocracy here). Here we can see incredible religious influence on the main document of a country (the Constitution of said country), with verses from the Qur’an quoted. Would the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, English Bill of Rights, etc…etc…be so blatantly based in religious documents, I would agree that it was some sort of a theocracy. I may be wrong, but I don’t think that the UK’s laws are THAT HEAVILY based within the Bible, or whatever religious document we’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/22 "2006-01-03T06:35:16Z")
Checking various definitions of “theocracy”, you are probably right, Robert. Many definitions say that a necessary element is that laws must be based on religion, which would rule out the UK. However, some definitions require only that the head of the government be the head of the church, and possibly also that the head of the government (at least nominally) rules in the name of the relevant god. I suspect that on paper, the UK might meet these more relaxed definitions, but as I say, overall, you seem to be right. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/23 "2006-01-03T07:06:11Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > 😕 What the hell are Lebanese atheists, agnostics, Wiccans, and none-of-the-aboves supposed to do? I’m not exaggerating. One of my friends is an Israeli Witch and she told me she once got into contact with a group of Wiccans in Lebanon, but it was kept very secret for fear of persecution. They’re whatever religious group they come from. So if you’re a Sunni Muslim and then decide you’re an atheist or a wiccan or something, not only do you keep quiet about it, obviously, you’re still considered a Sunni Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![Mordib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mordib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mordib)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/24 "2006-01-03T10:11:35Z")
Living in the UK ive always considered us to be a ‘not very religeous’ country yet a lot of our traditions and laws are based around christian concepts. Still from the various definitions that people have posted up in this thread the thing that defines us NOT as a theocracy is that whilst we may have many relgeous traditions in our laws and society they are not the drivng force behind the government (or any of the long term political parties as far as I am aware). The church makes no claim to have such control and if you look at government decisions quite a few of them go against the church of england (same sex marriage, banning of christmas 😛 etc). As far as I am aware the Priminister of the UK is not in charge of the Church of England (though I have not researched this, so please correct me if you can provide proof) and all laws passed in recent times have been worded so as to specifically not lean towards one religeon or another. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/25 "2006-01-03T16:41:28Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > 😕 What the hell are Lebanese atheists, agnostics, Wiccans, and none-of-the-aboves supposed to do? I’m not exaggerating. One of my friends is an Israeli Witch and she told me she once got into contact with a group of Wiccans in Lebanon, but it was kept very secret for fear of persecution. It’s more about community and tradition than inclusiveness. Surely you know that family law in India is governed by relgious principles. You are subject to different law regarding marriage, etc. depending on your religious affiliation. People who are not part of a large relgious group or engaging in mixed marriges can get civil marriages. There are also some pretty serious laws in India regarding evangelism and conversion. Although Democratic, the Indian state gives an unusual degree of respect and power to their various major religions. I’m sure athists, agnostics and Wiccans miss out on quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097/26 "2006-01-03T17:02:11Z")
When I was in India in the '80s, people were talking a lot about the controversial Shah Bano divorce case, which went to the Supreme Court IIRC, and the amount of alimony awarded to a Muslim woman depended on interpretation of a particular verse of the Qur’an. I remember someone in India saying to me that the court had based its ruling on the English translation of that verse by A. Yusuf Ali, an Indian author whose translation is coincidentally the most popular one in the English-speaking Muslim world. So yeah, it **totally sucks out the wazoo IMHO** that women’s lives are disproportionally impacted by family law being governed by _religious law_ in many Eastern countries. When I was a librarian in a research institute in the 1990s, I helped Dr. ‘Azizah al-Hibri with her research into Muslim family law. Dr. al-Hibri is a legal scholar at the University of Richmond. She was born in Tunisia. She has been contributing much of the groundwork toward feminist reform of Islamic law. When I began to study Arabic, little did I suspect it would lead to a library career that first got me to work on feminism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-christian-theocracies/338097.md?page=1)