Guest wrote:
> Good read! John, would it be fair to say, as your book suggests,
> that shiism is historically a largely apolitical sect? Would this
> imply they don't present a major threat to american
> identity?
I think that's a fair conclusion, at least for the last millennium
until Iran's 1979 revolution. It's really an incredible story.
For 300 years, the original Imams were supposed to be infallible
leaders who, like Mohammed himself, were supposed to be both religious
and political leaders. But when the 12th infallible Imam disappeared
without leaving a successor, it was a serious problem for Shiism. So
political leaders had to be essentially secular, and religious leaders
were all clerics and jurists in regional positions, with no global
recognition. This was the problem that Khomeini's Shia theology was
meant to solve, when he said, hey, I'm your new infallible Imam. Live
with it.
I don't believe that any part of Islam presents a major threat to the
"American identify," beyond things like terrorist acts. The only real
threat to America today comes from the Nazis occupying the country
just across the Pacific Ocean, who believe that they're superior
to everyone in the world, and who believe that their leader
has a "Mandate from Heaven" to rule the entire world.