re: #12 Archangelus

And by that simple rule, neither Syria nor Iraq would apply. Hell, Saddam added the words “Allah Ackbar” (God is great) to the country’s flag.

Well, it doesn’t have to be a bright line. Our government has portions of it that are non-secular; almost all our anti-abortion laws are based in Christian teaching. So we have a mostly secular government with some unfortunate streaks of non-secularism in it. And, of course, we have ‘in god we trust’ on our money.

But in Syria, all legislation really is required to adhere to Islamic jurisprudence. All of it. So that very firmly and obviously makes it not a secular form of government.

Obviously, Gaddafi, creator of the “Islamic legion” wasn’t secular either.