When religious doctrine is the law of the land, most likely you're living in a theocracy. There's not a lot of room for dissent in theocracies, where priests are in charge and say they are speaking for God.
Notice the similarities between theocracy and democracy? In Greek, theo- means "God" and -kratia "power or rule." A democracy is ruled by dēmos, "the people." An autocracy is one ruled by a single person with absolute power, like a king (or your mom). In theocracies, God rules.
