Theocracy??

Dr dear Dr: Can the concept of the clergy run theocratic state still be viable now that the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan for good? Is there a template for this sort of thing in the history books of the West? Israel and the Israelites?

Prescinding from the precise schemas for Kabul, since nothing clear has yet emerged from that sad and sorrowful brand new republic, still we can adumbrate a few points about the overall concept and debate on this subject. The Sikh warriors of Amritsar once asserted a Theocracy not too long ago, and indeed in recent modern times, so as a concept it sometimes emerges as an attractive option to holy men and women, or rather to religious men and women. Amritsar was a case in point from Sikhism. There are other examples to illustrate the point, such as modern day post Revolutionary Iran to name but a few. But the question that is often put to Theocratic states is this - can the clerics concerned go out and collect the bins?

On a genuine and more serious note, there are a number of points that can be made:

- Amritsar asserted the presidency of a theocracy, a long way from Plato's Republic;

- But do such Theocratic states actually work, do the buses run on time?

- Can the clergy for instance organise the regular collection of the bins in those states?

- The Queen of England recently opened the Senned in Wales on the 17th October 2021;

   * Theocracy since Plato's philosopher king sounds good in theory;

   * But the Theocratic state assumes that the clergy contained therein are indeed close to God;

   * The assumption being that they are indeed Spiritual Charismatics;

   * Led and guided by the Spirit over all spirits, but is this true in facto?

- So a state can be guided spiritually even if the clerics are not overtly involved, that is true;

- Spiritual leaders in the world do exist a la the Dalai;

- The Formal Opening of the Senned in Wales in 2021 was a very nice day, this was before the Queen got ill from too much work in a narrow confine of time, and it showed that a partnership between clerics and politicians can occur, while the clerics and leaders and rabbis and imams remain in the shadows of privacy law, that is indeed entirely possible. Nay even affordable. Israel is a case in point. Uk too.