Thanks again. Perhaps the lack of acknowledgement of common ground suggested? It very well might be my own biases coming through.
Thanks again. I don't want to pull your thread further off course. {I'm off to contemplate any possible connection between "black and white thinking" and prejudice.}
Perhaps we are all a bit gray, and in our lack of knowledge we miss each other's points?
Isn't there room for all beliefs?
However, if one religion gains political control, they can play God and make wars (like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan), they can occupy foreign countries (though elected as president in only one country), they can make trade deals that cut out starving Africans, make alliances that lead to world wars (or world peace), and that means that there is no longer room for other religions. This is because all would want to be in charge. Each religion has its own sense of morality, so it will craft its laws and appoint its supreme court judges (who rule for life). It becomes a contest of which religion is politically the strongest.
But somehow God's will is marginalized when religion mixes with politics. "Thou shalt not kill" becomes "we must kill to defend ourselves, even if we don't have evidence of wrongdoing" (as it happened in Iraq, where about 1,000,000 Iraqis died in the recent war).
Surely, if one is religious, one should adhere to God's laws, especially if taking over the politics of a country (and thereby taking over the world).