I was passed a copy of the political platform for the Justice and Development Party in Morocco today. The JDP is the Islamic party of Morocco that wants to establish an Islamic state in this fairly liberal MENA country.

As soon as I realized the document was from this party, a red light went on in my occidental head. Here is a party that exists to tear down the barrier between religion and state, one of the fundamental tenets of democracy. Isn’t it? What is democracy, exactly? One could say, in very simple terms, that democracy is government by the people, right? So, if JDP represents part of the people, who cares what their ideology is? Yeah, that’s an idea in a vacuum.

The problem arises when other people begin to be marginalized, even persecuted, something that happened in places like Iran and Afghanistan. The reality is that these governments, like many fundamentalist ideologies, don’t understand their own beliefs. You can’t force someone to be religious; it must come from his heart and mind.

I won’t pretend to understand the irrationality behind fundamentalism of any kind. I’m not sure I even understand the idea behind having religious political parties. If anything, they are a kind of socialist party, one that believes it is serving the “common good” by banning everything it deems unwholesome, but by banning things they don't like, they've already taken away the rights of those who like them. (It's incredibly annoying to me to go to restaurants in Cairo and not be able to have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner.) I'm talking about all religious parties, not just Islamic parties. By calling yourself the "Christian Democratic Party," for example, you've already marginalized everyone who is not a Christian. It shows your intent to marginalize. That isn't democracy.

Anyway, just some thoughts. Comments are appreciated.