In “Egypt, the Beginning or the End” (NYT, December 6, 2011), Thomas Friedman is asking about how the Moslem Brothers and the Salafis will rule Egypt. Will it be a secular democratic government or a Sharia one? We have already got some answers in Libya and Tunisia. But the best thing is to compare with the Christian countries’ historical behavior.

Even when Christ told the Christians to “give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar”, Christianity was governed by theocratic kings until the French revolution showed the way to secular democratic governments.
This didn’t happen to Islam. It won’t happen before Islamic religious leaders show the Moslems that they are not fit to rule.
The Moslem populations will then understand what the Christian ones understood that religious leaders can lead their souls to God but that they have to let professional politicians take care of the terrestrial wellbeing of their countries and their populations.

Roger AKL