Avraham Burg Quotes
We have a very vivid democracy, but it's very fragile, partly because of our inner conflict. What is the real authority, the Knesset or … the synagogue? Are we a democracy or a theocracy.
Avraham Burg, Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Quoted in New York Times, July 28, 1999
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Although the Puritans were the first religious group of immigrants who came to America for religious freedom, once the obtained it, they were terribly despotic in trying to force others to adopt their religious views. By seeking religious freedom the planted the seeds of democracy. By denying it to others, they also planted the seed of the First Amendment. Those who insisted upon separation of church and state always cited the Puritans as example one of what can happen with an established church in America.
Joseph ben Matthias. The term was coined by Josephus to refer to the fundamentalist, orthodox Jewish view of a proper state, as opposed to a secular government. The Jewish fundamentalist dream of a theocracy came down through modern times. There were ultra-orthodox Jewish groups who opposed the creation of the State of Israel on the grounds that it is not a theocracy and there are some who still want to see Israel transformed. The term became generalized and is applied to any state where the religion is the state and religious leaders dominate and control the state. The ultra orthodox Muslims, as in Iran, are generally the only religious group who have created theocracies or semi-theocracies as Islamic states. See {638106} for the context in which the term was first used.
Ironically, without the word “wicked” most people would regard the first sentence as a good description of elements of a modern democracy. It illustrates that for the Islamic fundamentalist democracy substitutes the rule of man for the rule of God, freedom of speech allows heresy and blasphemy to to uttered and communicated, and religion which is supposed to inform and direct politics. So what is good for the lover of democracy is the very thing that is bad for Islam. This is not a uniquely Islamic viewpoint. It has been and is held by fundamentalist Christians and Jews as well who would return to Biblical law punishing blasphemy and heresy with death and have religion drive all politics.
It was drafted by John Adams. Note that there was freedom of religion for Christians and not others. Of all the colonies, Massachusetts had the worst record of religious intolerance with Puritans controlling everything. Rhode Island and Connecticut were created by religious dissenters from Massachusetts. Adams had all he could do to get the Christian sects on an equal footing ratified. The other colonies however, insisted to a total freedom of religion clause which became the First Amendment to the national Constitution. Adams himself was a kind of secular, cultural Christian who did not believe in the divinity of Christ and other Christian doctrine. See {592695} to illustrate this.
In early America there were many instances of clergy threatening damnation to those who supported a particular political point of view. However, that became quite rare and flared up in the early 21st century in America with abortion and a few Catholic Bishops. Generally democracies have a certain degree of separation of church and state. Israel, although a Jewish state, is very much a secular state but does have religious parties. One of them is the Shas orthodox Jewish party. But this statement even shocked most Shas members. Shas lost the election by far and remained a small minority party despite the Rabbi’s threats.
Commenting on the concept of democracy and it's lack of Biblical justification:
A conservative Calvinist weekly periodical. There has always been a religious right in America.
Avraham "Avrum" Burg is an Israeli author, politician and businessman: he was a member of the Knesset, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Speaker of the Knesset, and Interim President of Israel. He was the first Speaker of the Knesset to have been born in Israeli territory after independence in 1948. A member of the Labor Party when he was a member of the Knesset, Burg announced in January 2015 that he had joined Hadash.
