Uh, yeah.
The fact that the governments of the likes of Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and Stalin were repressive and totalitarian only characterises them as repressive and totalitarian - not as particularly secular or irreligious (especially given that they made themselves ‘little gods’ in their own right). Monotheistic societies have applied totalitarian repression (divine right of kings, anyone?) with rabid enthusiasm also - it was their stock-in-trade in the West until the Enlightenment; and it still is their stock-in-trade in large sections of the Middle East…
The “divine right of kings” has no Biblical support in either of the Testaments. Both claim that the only Being with anything like a “divine right” is God. The idea of a “king” in monotheism came explicitly from the people who had abdicated trust in God, and wanted a king to be like the other nations around them to lead them in battle and secure territory. Clearly, it was a lack of faith in God that prompted what you claim to be the initial monotheistically motivated request for a king, which in fact was contrary to God’s will as repeatedly pointed out through the words of the prophets, beginning with Samuel.
*So all
the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They
said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But
when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but
they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but
warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD.
The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” (1 Samuel 8:4-22)*
Clearly, the idea of a king having some kind of divine right or sanction is not a Biblical one, since God warned the people, through Samuel and a number of other prophets, of the abuse of power that kings will characteristically demonstrate.
Furthermore, read through the litany of the deeds of the kings of Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom) following the first three kings, Saul, David and Solomon (1 & 2 Kings). They were almost universally condemned as “doing evil in the sight of The Lord.” This does not support your claim that kings have some sort of divine sanction from God to rule on earth. On the contrary, Biblical Judaism and Christianity claim only one legitimate king, God himself.
