One of the interesting parallels between conservative Christians in America and traditionalist Muslims in the Middle East is how both groups seek to construct a more godly society. They all wish for their nation to be defined by and give greater glory to God rather than a secular state which doesn't take sides in religious questions.

In No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam, Geneive Abdo describes a situation that sounds very similar to what’s going on in America:

For contemporary Egyptians, it is the integration of their faith and their society that counts, not rigid interpretations or attempts at a codification of an Islamic state ideology. ... [T]he growing professional middle class has turned its back on many of the trappings of Western-style “development,” preferring to make room for Islamic notions of justice, family, and social cohesion. University campuses keep alive the Islamic dream, despite the state’s best efforts to stamp it out, by brute force, if necessary.

Educated, wealthy women are increasingly turning to Islam, depriving the secularists of what might seem like a natural constituency for their modernizing aspirations. Even the judicial system, originally created as a counterweight to the religious courts to help integrate Egypt into the Western world, can no longer to be counted on to fulfill its appointed duty.

Such institutions as the universities, the professional syndicates and the courts all owe their very existence to Egypt’s attempts to carve out a Western-style identity. ... [A]ll three failed in their assigned roles. The distinction between state and religion, Western history’s imposition on the East, has become increasingly untenable.

In America, too, there are large institutions which for the backbone of secular, civil society — and the Christian Right is working hard to co-opt them for their religious agenda. It’s not that the institutions have failed in their goals, but rather that they have done too well because they have made society safe for the irreligious.

Unlike Egypt, though, the government isn’t trying to stamp out the Christian Right — whether by brute force or by other means. The Christian Right certainly acts like this is the case, but just the opposite is true because the government goes out of its way to support religious aspirations.

Many Middle Eastern nations have tried hard over the past few decades to secularize and Westernize, but without much success. The backlash from Muslim traditionalists have been strong because Islam doesn’t have a tradition of separating church and state. Turkey has managed, but other countries haven’t been so lucky.

Muslims, just like so many Christians, see their religion as the only authentic source of justice, social stability, social cohesion, and morality. From such a starting premise, it only makes sense that law and politics must be fully imbued with religion and that a secular, civil state is not possible. This requires, though, a relatively homogenous society in which there isn’t much diversity in religious doctrine or sentiment.

 

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