[geeks] Socialized medicine [was Re: nVidia 8800GT for Apple Mac Pro]

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 27, 2008, at 17:26 , der Mouse wrote:

>> Depends on your definition [of "theocracy"].
>
>> Mike says that it means the priests make decisions.
>
>> I just see it as state and government are intertwined, which was true
>> in England.
>
> Well, your meaning is a fairly nonstandard one - all the definitions
> I've found amount to "government in which ultimate civil authority is
> vested in a divinity (or divinities)" - so if you insist on using it,
> you semi-must expect to be widely misunderstood.

No, it isn't nonstandard.

The UK is called a "vestigial theocratic government", if you want to  
be pedantic about it.

The official definition of theocracy hardly determines what the real  
authority is in a given theocracy, or any other government for that  
matter.  I would say that many of the actions of the English  
government were described as being the will of God.  For a long time,  
just about all governments in Europe were at least partially theocratic.

Of course, the leadership was often just using religion for their own  
interests, but their claims were that it was the will of God.  Deus lo  
Volt.

Also, who was responsible for things like mandatory tithing in the UK?

Priests went out and executed people for not doing it, without the  
government's knowledge or support?

Or did the government support this and enforce it with their soldiers?

Norway is another one BTW.  In 2006 the legislature there asked the  
prime minister to advocate for true separation of church and stated.   
The stated reason was that Norway wanted to official criticize sharia  
law, but was itself guilty of the same thing because the government  
there heavily favors Lutherans.

Norway in day-to-day practice is not very theocratic, but that doesn't  
change the fact that their government is a minor theocracy, and has  
only recently started to talk about officially breaking with that.

-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com