My dissertation was on a comparison between God the Trinity and lonely Allah. P.S., I have my shorthand of my dissertation available, which I use for my classes: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OGSAX2W/?tag=B00OGSAX2W . Allah is an Arabic word that means “the God” and is what Muslims call the Deity. When speaking about the traditional Judaeo-Christian view of God I will just use “God.” When speaking about the Muslim view, I will use “Allah.” During this study, it became increasing important to have a vision of God where He is related and in community for all eternity. Having something to compare such a Being (Trinity) draws this out decisively; Allah is utterly alone in “eternity past,” and rules alone presently. I don’t want to talk about this too much, but rather about the consequences these different visions of the Deity have on government (Godvernment), freedom, and libertarianism — a philosophy that states that humans truly have free choices, are not forced or made to pick one choice or another based on current circumstances or past  causes, should not be forced, and holds that any government should function to uphold and maintain a nation where free choices are possible. I will just handle the first of these (Government/Godvernment) in this blog. The pun in “Godvernment” is designed to draw out the frightful idea that a human — governor, president, congressman, et al. — can begin to function like a god and the more chilling thought that this should be so. By the way, I owe the pun to Aaron Gentles, a good friend. What I want to ask is what type of vision of the Deity more likely leads to such an idea? Is it a vision of God in community and related to equals — Father, Son, Spirit (Trinity) — or a vision of Allah utterly alone in His supremacy and rule? I hope that it is clear that it is a vision of Allah — and I am not attempting to attack Islam here, just thinking through consequences for differing views of the Deity. On the view of a lone Allah ruling, there is a model for hierarchal rule of a superior over inferior. I can’t make this point strong enough: in the Islamic view of Allah, there is no way to establish equality or community. Why? Forget about the world for a second and imagine Allah alone for all eternity. He is related to no one, distinct from no one, and has no community with anyone. When Allah creates, he creates a group or groups of inferiors. Thus, on this view, we establish in the very first relationship a model of inequality. Don’t miss that it is the very first relationship, and so acts as the pristine or primordial example of not just what is so, but what should be so. Someone might object here and say that the Christian view of God would have the same problem, but it would not. God the Trinity is a community of equals internally related and eternally existing one in the others. I know this is hard, but the Trinity is not illogical; indeed it can be rationally explained and has been many times — see chapter 4 of my dissertation when it is published for a contemporary example. The first relationship according to Christian Trinitarianism has always already existed among the Father, Son, and Spirit. This establishes equality among equals and community among equals as the very first relationship, and it should be this way.

If I am a human ruler and I view Allah as my example for life and rulership, then I place myself in the superior position over inferiors; equality is not the goal and relationships should function in terms of inequality. If I use God the Trinity as my example, then equality follows, and it should follow. If I want to establish an elitism as the ruler where others are viewed as less than me, I follow the example of Allah. If I want to establish seeing others as equal to me, then I would follow the example of the Trinity.

The command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” is just an explanation of what is going on in the Trinity, but it makes little sense against the backdrop of Allah, the superior and supreme ruler.

If I want a Godvernment on earth run by a sole authority who is superior to me, follow Allah. If I want a government on earth run by those understanding themselves equal to me, then follow the Trinity.

Dr. Scalise

For more on the Islam, Christian comparison, see http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OGSAX2W/?tag=B00OGSAX2W