Saudi Arabia sentences man to 10 years and 2,000 lashes for saying he is an atheist

[whatthehey]

23. True, but a smaller percentage than want this in Saudi Arabia, thank Vishnu

Plus we have the happy accidents that Christianity in its formative years was at best a minority religion with no state power, and then even when it wielded massive state power in the middle and early modern ages, was always checked by burgeoning regional factionalism and later nationalism, to thank for a political philosophy in the west which even in very religious countries tends to have some separation of powers and influence between church and state.

From its very invention Islam had governmental power, and from that day to this has served as a uniting force which almost always overwhelms national or regional loyalty. There is no internal check there for clerical overreach, and so we see more egregious religious nuttery coming from Islamic nations than from Christian ones, despite remarkably similar worldviews among their more fundamentalist believers.