Jon Meacham Quotes
If God himself did not compel obedience, than no man should try.
Jon Meacham, Managing Editor, Newsweek, NBC Meet the Press, December 24, 2006
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a “worldwide Islamic political party.” It is banned as a terrorist, violence provoking institution in most of the Muslim countries and many nations in Europe.
Congress had passed the Edmunds Act prohibiting plural marriage. Taylor, who himself had 7 wives and 35 children, went “underground” and secretly operated the church from exile.
Joseph ben Matthias. There a different kinds of theocracy, There can be a Pope, a King, or a Supreme Leader who acts as the chief magistrate using a religious tract as the law of the land. The Ancient Jews had a Republican Theocracy were the leaders were chosen by the people but they did not promulgate any laws. The Torah—the first 5 books of the Old Testament—was the law of the land. In comparison. 21st century Iran recognized the Koran as the source of Laws. However, their chief magistrate was a cleric—the supreme leader who is not elected but appointed by a few other clerics. None of the other Iranian leaders are chosen by the people because all candidates must be approved by the Supreme Leader in order to even stand for election. So the ancient Jews had a republican theocracy, while Iran was an autocratic theocracy.
Sometimes misquoted as “If there is no God, everything is permitted.”
This sura is interpreted by some Islamic fundamentalists as absolution for the killing of a non-Muslim by a Muslim. It was Allah who did it. In a greater sense, critics of Islam observe that many Muslims and Islamic nations have a double standard of responsibility for crimes. If the victims are Muslims, the normal standards of morality hold; but if a non-believer there can be no crime. Terrorism, torture, beheading, mass murder can all be done with a clean conscience if a Muslim takes this interpretation of this sura. Many Muslims however take an opposite point of view. These people do not have the concept of fatalism and lack of free will that others believe. There is a parallel to this problem in Judeo Christian countries although it is less common statistically. But the murder of physicians who perform abortions, and the Jewish radical fundamentalist who killed innocent Arabs at worship are examples of people who viewed themselves as instruments of God in their heinous activities.
She was running for the United States Senate. God must have chosen her opponent as she lost.
This Biblical quotation has been used for more than a thousand years by Christian authorities, civil and religious, to induce obedience to the existing authority and suppress revolution.
This proposal and others like it over the years have never even gotten out of Committee.
Jon Ellis Meacham is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer. A former Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Random House, he is a contributing writer to The New York Times Book Review, a contributing editor to Time magazine, and a former Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek. He is the author of several books. He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University.
