And what do you think Francisco Franco did? Who do you think were running the government with Franco and who do you think were his assessors? You are not thinking about the most important part: how are you going to enforce it? To run a government you need more than a doctorate to be able to enforce the laws, so how are you going to do it? Franco style?
While is true that staying out of politics is not going to protect the church from scrutiny there is a major difference between a groups on nuns kidnapped children from single mothers and “nuns by orders of the bishops of the catholic church kidnapped thousands of children from single mothers” (for those who are not familiar this is what happened in Spain during Franco times, nuns received orders from the bishops who were assessing Franco to kidnap children from single women and the mothers were told the children had died) Big difference! Yes many people left the church because of the child abuse accusations but did the pope ordered those priests to abuse the kids? No, so is not even close to the situation in Spain.
Hey, abducting peoples children is horrific. And that is a good point to worry about a Catholic theocracy. Not that I think it would happen but that I don’t underestimate self righteous lay Catholics. And I’m sure they would be complaining to the Bishops. And I’m sure some Bishops would appease them to stay their friends and in their favors.
And, also, do you really think that a doctorate in theology is going to make any humane immune to corruption and power? I know someone who got married to a theologican and he abused her and was charged with attempted murder of his wife. Being a theologian is no guarantee of anything.
I don’t think having a doctorate makes one immune from corruption or what you like to refer to as “power.” Bear in mind I don’t necessarily buy into the cliche that power equals corruption. No one has more absolute power than a parent over their child. And one can be a slave or an “average Joe” and be corrupt. Plenty of corrupt people in the ghettos of the world.
Anyways… my point about those that earned and have been awarded their doctoral degrees, in comparison and contrast to some many outlaw motorcycle clubs (e.g., Hells Angels; the Outlaws) and street gangs, is the motorcycle clubs and street gangs have earned the admiration of Americans, in TV and cable shows, based upon their perceived honor, power, and organization.
I was suggesting that Catholic men and women with Ph.D.'s can do equal or far better. A doctoral degree by the way, is not restricted and limited to the academic field of theology. You have Catholics with doctoral degrees in medicine (M.D. or D.O.), mathematics, physics, law, philosophy etc. I’m sure there are some with doctoral degrees in political science too.
And I have great admiration for candidates for doctoral degrees let alone those awarded them after successfully defending their dissertations. But then I come from an inner-city environment were very few ever attain a bachelor degree. There is much hard work that goes into attaining a Ph.D. and the process of attaining one matures one’s mind intellectually.
And have you thought what are you going to do with people doesn’t go to church?
Nothing. I don’t go to Church. Or rarely do.
I think you have the idea theocracy automatically = Home Land Security and the Patriot Act.
Do you know how much money and how burdensome to the state is going to be to enforce that? The US cannot get people to stop killing and stealing so how are you going to make people comply? That is why theocracies turn into oppressive and dictatorial states because it is very difficult to enforce a theocracy by democratic means.
There is no need for the state to police people into daily or weekly Mass.
The Papal States already crossed the bridge of theocracy. And my impressions of the cities of Rome (legalized prostitution) and Naples (city that gave birth to modern transsexualism) under the Papal States is that they were the equivalent of the modern day cities of L.A. and New York City except with swords instead of guns. Naples in particular was a
cosmopolitan port city that would make the modern day Midwest of the U.S.A. look like a conservative territory under the supervision of the Spanish Inquisition.
If anything was conservatively run during the era of the Papal States and Holy Roman (German really) Empire it was not the P.S. or H.R.E. but the Catholic Spanish run kingdoms of Spain.
One might make note that it was the French, Spanish, and Portuguese (during the time nation-states were just beginning to be birthed) that set out colonizing the world and not the Papal States and Holy Roman Empire. The Spanish in particular viewed themselves to Catholicism what modern day Americans view themselves to democracy: evangelical Israelites destined with the duty to spread and convert the world through war into each respectively.
