America Must Lead the Charge Against the Political Abuse of Religion |
As war again engulfs parts of the Middle East and tensions spiral around Iran, the international community confronts a familiar and tragic pattern. Whether in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, or under Tehran's theocratic regime, religion has too often been manipulated as an instrument of political power. For Americans watching events unfold with alarm, the question is not simply how to respond militarily or diplomatically. It is how to address one of the structural drivers of these recurring crises, the political abuse of religion.
The United States was founded on a revolutionary idea: that faith must be protected from the state, and the state protected from domination by any single faith. The First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom remains one of America's greatest contributions to constitutional thought. Yet across much of the world, religion and political authority remain fused in ways that institutionalize inequality, suppress dissent, and sanctify repression.
Nowhere is this clearer than in Iran. Since the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, clerical supremacy has been embedded in the machinery of the state. The doctrine of velayat-e faqih, rule by the Islamic jurist, grants unelected religious authorities ultimate political control. The result has been decades of repression, systemic discrimination against women and minorities, and the export of sectarian militancy. The current confrontation involving Iran and........