Molly Blog #2
Like any form of government, theocracy can be dangerous.
Theocracy is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a form of government in which a country is ruled by religious leaders.” The Handmaid’s Tale depicts the Republic of Gilead, a Christian theocracy, and totalitarian state lead by the Commanders of the Faithful (and, unofficially, their wives). Due to the nature of dystopia every feature of Gilead is pushed to the extreme - however, by nature, theocracy (and, especially, monotheocracy) is extreme.
I can’t say I know a lot about Christianity, or religion as a whole, but what I do know is that it is largely a religion of peace and tolerance, so what jumped out to me about Gilead was the persecution of others.
A notable, and terrifying, example of this is the Wall. The Wall is an old insitution, “hundreds of years old, too; or over a hundred, at least. Like the sidewalks, it’s red brick, and must once have been plain but handsome. Now the gates have sentries and there are ugly new floodlights mounted on metal posts above it, and barbed wire along the bottom and broken glass set in concrete along the top.” (pg. 40). On the Wall are hooks, on the hooks are the dangling dead bodies of those deemed traitors. Traitors range from those of other religions, or those who do things the government disagrees with. Each kind of traitor has a symbol above or on their person, so everyone who walks by knows exactly what they did, for example Jews are decorated with the Star of David, and abortion doctors a drawing of a human fetus.
The Wall is not the only way to deal with traitors, many are sent to colonies. The colonies, a hub of agricultural production, are home to Unwomen, a group of women made up of the sterile, feminists, lesbians, widows, and the politically dissident - anyone who does not conform to the Republic’s standards.
Theocracy is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a form of government in which a country is ruled by religious leaders.” The Handmaid’s Tale depicts the Republic of Gilead, a Christian theocracy, and totalitarian state lead by the Commanders of the Faithful (and, unofficially, their wives). Due to the nature of dystopia every feature of Gilead is pushed to the extreme - however, by nature, theocracy (and, especially, monotheocracy) is extreme.
I can’t say I know a lot about Christianity, or religion as a whole, but what I do know is that it is largely a religion of peace and tolerance, so what jumped out to me about Gilead was the persecution of others.
A notable, and terrifying, example of this is the Wall. The Wall is an old insitution, “hundreds of years old, too; or over a hundred, at least. Like the sidewalks, it’s red brick, and must once have been plain but handsome. Now the gates have sentries and there are ugly new floodlights mounted on metal posts above it, and barbed wire along the bottom and broken glass set in concrete along the top.” (pg. 40). On the Wall are hooks, on the hooks are the dangling dead bodies of those deemed traitors. Traitors range from those of other religions, or those who do things the government disagrees with. Each kind of traitor has a symbol above or on their person, so everyone who walks by knows exactly what they did, for example Jews are decorated with the Star of David, and abortion doctors a drawing of a human fetus.
The Wall is not the only way to deal with traitors, many are sent to colonies. The colonies, a hub of agricultural production, are home to Unwomen, a group of women made up of the sterile, feminists, lesbians, widows, and the politically dissident - anyone who does not conform to the Republic’s standards.
There are theocracies in the modern world, not many but they do exist. Obviously, the Vatican City is a theocracy (an elective monarchy theocracy at that), which is not surprising considering the city is, and always has been, governed by the current Pope. Below is a video that explains how the Vatican City works, because it is equal parts fascinating and extremely confusing.
Another example to look at is Iran. Any member of the Islamic State could probably be argued as theocratic (and probably have been), but Iran is the most actively considered to be either a theocracy or a theocracy and democracy hybrid, this is hardly surprising considering their constitution states, "all civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria." This is extremism is considerably more similar to Gilead than the Vatican, but it is not as outwardly dystopian still.
When I was doing research for this blog I was very surprised to find out Israel is not considered theocratic, that was the first country I thought of when I was thinking about modern theocracies, but instead it merely has Judaism as the official state religion, not the governing religion. Though it is legally defined as “Jewish and democratic state” it is never actually considered a theocracy.
All three of the countries above have the potential to be dangerous - and have been dangerous in the past, and arguably the present. Is that because their governments are tied to a certain religion? Not necessarily, no - there are a number of contributing factors, but, religion is always one of them.
When I was doing research for this blog I was very surprised to find out Israel is not considered theocratic, that was the first country I thought of when I was thinking about modern theocracies, but instead it merely has Judaism as the official state religion, not the governing religion. Though it is legally defined as “Jewish and democratic state” it is never actually considered a theocracy.
All three of the countries above have the potential to be dangerous - and have been dangerous in the past, and arguably the present. Is that because their governments are tied to a certain religion? Not necessarily, no - there are a number of contributing factors, but, religion is always one of them.