david f,

I think that like me you have always wanted to be a sociologist who is interested in everything that has happened since the Big Bang, having a desire to know everything about everything. You want to know the answers and are unhappy with half-truths.

Also, I now see where you get your humanistic approach from.

I don't agree with you on your pro-China stance but then there are a lot of people now who don't agree with you on that with the exception of FOULmouth, Andrew Forrest, Foxy, to name a few.

Dear David,

Here's the link again. Hopefully this time it will work:

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137465306_4

Foxy,

I hope you're plagiarising (again).

Dear David,

Many argue that the separation of religion and
state is an essential element of democracy.
Others argue that religion is an essential element
of democracy's underpinnings. It's true that
democracies tend to have lower average levels of
government involvement in religion than do
non-democracies so I guess the question arises
regarding religion and democracies is - how much
and what type of control should democracies
tolerate?

Regarding how democratic is Israel?

The following link explains:

http://www.abc.net.au/2017-03-02/how-democratic-is-israel/837386

cont'd ...

Dear David,

Sorry for the typo. I'll try again:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-22/how-democratic-is-israel/8373786

So what. Israel is able to make its own laws. Nobody outside the country is affected; nobody appears to have made a fuss of the law inside Israel. Get over it. None of your business.