A theocracy requires a person at the helm who is believed to divinely appointed by God or as a god. Caesar ruled the Roman empire that way, the Romans worshipped him as their god. The title 'pope' comes from the romans in that sense. The popes of the catholic church likewise following suit in roman fashion, have viewed themselves, and have been viewed by catholics, as either divinely guided or standing in the stead of God on earth, leading also to the idea that the kings of Europe were chosen by God. the kings of Europe however did not make their own decisions, they were subjects of the church themselves, until Henry the 8th refused that subjegation (divorce problems) and opened his own branch of the catholic church in england, which became the anglican church. No other christian denomination (aside from some cults that pop up here and there claiming to be Christian and led by some reincarnated Jesus) that I am aware of, shares this belief of divine leadership. So from that perspective, the only denomination still that could ever rule as a theocracy remains the catholic church unless the USA is to annoint a king claiming the same.

A govt requires the support of it's citizens, requires not desires, in order to exist. We know the routes taken by unpopular govts, such as the catholic church as the leader of europe, and even Stalinist Russia for example, to ensure support and quell opposition, there are many many more examples. It's usually quite bloody and involves enormous amounts of propoganda, some of which may be true propoganda well drilled into the heads of the citizens and some not so true, well drilled also. The fear of death or exile and removal from family is often used. For instance, the streets of first millenial europe were littered with human carcases and parts thereof, as warnings to dissenters. The gullotine was used in France up until 1939 to punish 'criminals'. One shouldn't need to ask why plague was rampant.

At any rate, hopefully you get the idea so far. The point at which the protestant reformation really took hold in Europe coincides with the advent of the printing press. Up until this point most 'Christians, we really should call them catholics, all of europe was Catholic, not necessarily by choice, but anyway.. most catholics had never read the bible, they would have been lucky to even have heard it since liturgys were given in Latin, a language few of them understood. The first major publication that came off the first printing press that we know of was the gutenberg bible, if I remember correctly. For quite some time, owning a copy of a bible was considered a crime by the catholic church, punishable by burning at the stake. It took some time but eventually so many people left the catholic church that it no longer had the financial support it needed to continue on as it had. So, mostly what broke the camels back, was money or lack thereof.

I think you'll find most Christians today very wary of the catholic church still, whose ideas remain virtually the same in regard to it's pope and his position as divine, god on earth. Reason being, they themselves fear a return to theocracy.

Anyway, just something for you to mull over.

That may not have addressed everything but I am a bit busy right now.

Thomas Jefferson... there is a lot of hypocrisy everywhere all you have to do is look around with eyes wide open and mind unfettered.


Such as?