Should Islam have any role in the Iraqi constitution?

[Gabu]

I'll need to see what the constitution actually looks like before making any comment about it, but given that the country is, what, 97% Muslim, and given that, of those Muslims, probably at least a majority are the type who model their lives after their religion, I think it would be kind of unreasonable to expect them to accept a constitution that says nothing about Islam whatsoever.  It seems to me that our options are either to allow Islam to play a part in the constitution or to have the constitution be rejected and be back where we started.

If the constitution says something like "all non-Muslims shall be executed", however, then I think we'd have a case in saying that it should be changed.

[Gabu]

The US should've installed an oligarchical governemnt ran by the Christian minority instead considering that Christians always run things better than Muslims and their governments are alway superior. Christians over Muslims, ALWAYS.

Hopefully if the Constitution does end up like that the 1-2% Christian minority starts up a new insurgency. I'd hate to see them suffer under Islamic tyranny like the ones in Lebanon or Sudan.

You'd prefer having the other 97% of the population get sidelined in favor of a tiny segment of the population?

I'm glad you like democracy so much.

[Gabu]

Any Iraqi constitution heavily based on Islam isn't democracy either. And would be quite utterly horrible for the Christians. I will always support Christians facing Muslim oppression.

Why would it not be democracy?  Something "based" on Islam does not necessarily mean that you can't be a non-Muslim under it, although I haven't seen a draft of the constitution yet.

[Gabu]

Because it's rather unfair to have the oppression of Islam forced on you. I wouldn't like living in a Muslim country and being banned from drinking alcohol. No reason the Christians of Iraq should as well.

Pretty much everyone agrees that it's a good thing our Constitution bans a state religion. So why wouldn't it be in Iraq?

Because people in America are not the type who let their religion dictate their whole life.  Given how staunchly Muslim the people are in the Middle East, I don't really see how you're going to get them to agree on a constitution that doesn't include Islam in at least some way.

I thought the point of our being in the Middle East was to spread democracy (you know, the thing where the majority gets to say what happens), not Christianity.  We have gotten past the Crusades, haven't we?

[Gabu]

Because people in America are not the type who let their religion dictate their whole life.

Now? No. In the 1780s?

Well, obviously not to such a large extent as the Muslims in the Middle East, given that they were fine with and even came up with the idea of keeping Christianity out of government.

Given how staunchly Muslim the people are in the Middle East, I don't really see how you're going to get them to agree on a constitution that doesn't include Islam in at least some way.

so the non-Muslims should just get over it? Much like the Zimbabwean whites and black ethnicities persecuted by Mugabe should just get over Mugabe winning fair elections in 1980?

If there's anything blatantly oppresive towards non-Muslims written write into the constitution, I could see it.  Right now we have no idea what it means to incorporate Islam into the constitution, however, and we're talking in a purely theoretical basis.

I thought the point of our being in the Middle East was to spread democracy (you know, the thing where the majority gets to say what happens), not Christianity.  We have gotten past the Crusades, haven't we?

Never said our goal was to spread Christianity. I'm not an eveangelist. But there is no reason we should make concessions to Islam that would harm Christians in any way. And then there's also the fact that Islam and democracy are not compatibile.

You said a couple of posts above that we should establish an oligarchy run by Christians.