• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Again, the Ba’ath party is 100% secular. Secularism is a cornerstone of their party. It has nothing to do with Sunni and Shi’a here, it has to do with a theocratic regime in a partnership with exactly the opposite.

    • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      …Yes, the Ba’ath party is 100% secular, and Tehran would rather deal with secularists than with heretics.

        • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          No, secularists are nonbelievers, possibly apostates. A heretic believes in the same religion as you do, just the wrong kind of it.

            • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              On the contrary, from Wikipedia:

              Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization.[1][2] A heretic is a proponent of heresy.[1]

              Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one’s religion, principles, or cause;

              Atheism is not heresy. A heretic is a type of believer. You can argue you meant the colloquial usage as “divergent thought”, but that’s not the usage I used.

              Either way, the point stands: not all Islam is the same thing, and the Tehran regime quite clearly has an easier time stomaching cooperation with secularists than with Sunnis.