The Church has tried to jam doctrine down our throats by dint of omnipotence. This is a medieval not a modern tactic and it arises from a time when authority and hierarchy were rigid. Before we learned to read, write and think for ourselves, we docilely swallowed whatever they jammed down our throats. Times have changed. In modernity, we have learned to read, write and think for ourselves. Now, the Church's tactic triggers our gag reflex. We regurgitate it. The command - obedience paradigm no longer works. A new approach, therefore, is needed. The appeal must be to our rationality. We must be persuaded. This dismays the medievalists. It discombobulates them. It makes them apoplectic. The modernists, however, are up for the challenge. In fact, they think an appeal to our rationality is the best way to go.

It echoed a tactic that Khomeini himself deployed in 1979, in his revolution’s earliest months, when he first faced pushback against his new theocracy.

Four days after Khomeini returned to Iran from years of exile, he declared any opposition to be blasphemy.

“I will decide the government, a government for the people,” he intoned. “Revolt against God’s government is revolt against God.”

NY Post February 1, 2020, How Iran’s women are using their hijabs to fight the regime (Click Here)