Iranian Ayatollah Arrested For Advocating Separation Of Religion And Politics :: Iran

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October 08, 2006

Iranian Ayatollah Arrested For Advocating Separation Of Religion And Politics

Topics: Iran

Anti-Mullah reported yesterday on the violence between Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Borujerdi's supporters and Iranian security forces, leading up to the today's arrest of the reform-minded cleric. Highlighting the attacks on Borujerdi and his supporters was the statement by Mohssein Ejai, Minister of Information and Security (MOIS), who promised Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he would bring him Ayatollah Boroujerdi's severed head before dawn.

Today, AFP reports that Boroujerdi, who appears to have a significant following, has been arrested:

TEHERAN - Iran has arrested a controversial cleric and some of his followers who advocate separating religion and politics, a taboo in Islamic Iran, after clashes with police, the student ISNA agency said on Sunday.

Hundreds of supporters of Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Borujerdi had gathered on Saturday around his house in Teheran to protest the arrest of a number of the Shiite cleric’s followers and restrictions imposed on him, press reports said.

“The ones behind Saturday’s unrest were arrested. All including, Mr Borujerdi, have been handed over to judiciary officials,” said a security official in Teheran governor’s office, identified only by his last name, Roshan.

Roshan said the police had previously sought to contain these ”sectarian elements” but yesterday “they were carrying Molotov cocktails, knives, swords and clubs to confront the police.”

“They even (for a time) took members of the force hostage and threw acid on policemen and vandalized public property,” he said, adding “calm has been restored” in the crowded neighborhood in downtown Teheran.

A report in reformist Hambastegi daily said the Special Court for Clergy had recently tried to arrest Borujerdi but faced by resistance by his supporters.

Questioning a pillar of the Islamic republic, the ayatollah has said “we believe people have grown tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion.

“The objective of my followers and me is in defending traditional religion,” the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted the ayatollah as saying.

But the deputy head of Teheran police, Commander Nasser Shabani, accused the ayatollah of claiming to be the representative of the Shiites’ “hidden” twelfth Imam, Mahdi, and misinterpreting religion.

It will be interesting to see if this is only the begining of more violence to come. It is doubtful that Borujerdi's arrest will end the discussion over the separation of religion and politics.

Posted by Richard at October 8, 2006 05:39 PM

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Comments

Subject: Separation of Church & State
To All:

Even though the notion of sepation between Church and State seems natural to Americans, it was only the Western Roman Church that permitted such a separation. The idea of separation emerges during the Dark Ages (Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages) where the power (influence) of the Western Roman Empire made the rounds of Europe. The historical center for the Western Roman Church remained ... for the most part ... in Rome. Hence, in Western Europe, you find divisions of power where the Church had to depend, and acquiesce, for its protection from the areas other than Rome and/or the Papal States. Separation became the norm out of necessity for survival.

In the Easter Roman Church (Byzantine Empire of Constatinople), no separation emerged. The Byzantine Emperor (referred to himslef as the Roman Emperor) ruled jointly with the Patriarch of Constantinople. The same joint rulership held true for other religions of the Middle East.

Separation of Church and State is the anomaly and not the rule. America inherited the notion of separation from their ancestors in Western Europe. Accordingly, with respect to the question of the relationship between Church and State, we Americans are the ones that are out of step.

To the people of the Middle East or South Asia, the notion of separation of Church and State is alien to their perception of reality. We Americans need to appreciate this perception of reality.

With Aloha,

# Posted by harry at 10/08/2006 10:26 pm - reply- forum

Yes, we should "appreciate their perception of reality," but that doesn't mean we need to accept their warped sense of reality.

Juxtaposed with Islam, "their reality" is responsible for the overwhelming majority of violence throughout the world, 100% of the terrorism, and nearly 100% of the interfaith conflict - most of it within Islam itself, and has put us where we are today, virtually at war with an Islamic culture within Islam itself that is more appropriate for the Middle Ages than the modern world.

# Posted by Richard at 10/08/2006 10:48 pm - reply- forum

Subject: Demons
Richard:

If the Muslims see our separation of Church & State as ungodly, then this notion leads to their depiction of the United States (America) as the Great Satan. But, the perception involves more than just an evil name. The Muslims do not see as us people with rights. To them, we are possessed by demons and have to be destroyed in order to protect Islam from our adulteration.

They kill in order to exterminate us.

Under this perception, there can exist no dialogue whatsoever between Islam and the Great Satan. Our efforts at amelioration will prove fruitless. It is their duty as Muslims to exterminate us.

To me, this is the implication of their perception of reality that we do not appreciate.

With Aloha,

# Posted by harry at 10/09/2006 01:52 am - reply- forum

Harry,
I get your drift.

I'll be posting today a bit of a barn burner on this issue, regarding a liberal atheist author that says we ARE at war with Islam.

# Posted by Richard at 10/09/2006 06:46 am - reply- forum