The rule of law provides freedom; the rule of God does not

May 1 is Law Day throughout the United States.

You won’t get a day off, there won’t be a parade, and lawyers won’t get taken to lunch. Just the same, it’s a good day to reflect on what it means to live in a nation whose central organizing principle is the rule of law. There is no real freedom without it. Yet, this principle is under attack in much of the world, and not entirely accepted here at home.

The defining conflict of this century is a struggle between those who believe in the rule of law and those who believe in the rule of God.

The Islamic State thinks so. Its view was expressed by radical cleric Anjem Choudary, arrested in London in September 2014. Choudary, co-founder of Al Muhajiroun, told CNN in August of that year that the world is defined by two camps: the rule of law camp and a “camp which believes that sovereignty and supremacy belongs to God. They are the Islamic State, at the head of which is [the late] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi … I believe this Islamic State will spread, rapidly, and I believe it will be in Europe and even America within decades.”

Choudary isn’t voicing some jihadist fantasy. His “rule of God” camp is here already. We have today in this country a host of believers who think the Bible should trump the Constitution of the United States. One of them is the Chief Justice of Alabama, who wants to display the Ten Commandments outside his courthouse. Then, there is the Tennessee legislature, which voted on April 5 to make the Bible the “official state book.” God help us!

During the late occupation of Iraq, an endeavor in which I participated as an American Army officer, we urged Iraqi citizens to vote to ratify a proposed constitution. Many of them asked us, “Why do we need this? We have the holy Koran. What law written by man can be better than the law of God?”

Here is why the rule of law is the only hope for peace and freedom, and why the rule of God is a false idol.

First, whose god makes the rules? There are many religions in the world; most of them think they have a monopoly on truth. Much of the carnage in the history of our world occurred because one side thought the other was toting the wrong bible.

Most wars today are sectarian. Until the world is of one religion (a goal the Islamic State thinks is just fine), there will be no peace where nations are organized on the rule of God.

Second, where theocracy rules, heresy is a crime. There is no freedom to practice religion, except for those who happen to belong to the favored one. Don’t even think of apostasy. Conform or die. Yet conformity is anathema to progress.

Third, God gives no rights to man. Only the law does. In medieval England, an accused criminal could be tortured. If he survived, that was proof that he was innocent before God. Somewhat later, the law afforded the right to a trial by a jury and based on actual evidence. Which system do you like?

In the end, the rule of God is nothing more than an excuse for tyranny and oppression. I’ll take the rule of law, thank you.

So Happy Law Day — and many more.