The Relationship of Religion and Politics

Religion is something that has touched almost every culture in someway. As science and technology develop, people argue that the face and nature of religion is changing. Theorist argue that religion is an ideology and not reality, or that there are too many myths bound up in religions to make them real. They argue that our world is secularizing. In one sense, I believe they are correct. But I also think that stating that would is secularizing is a statement that is too general. Some societies are still heavily influenced by religious principles, even to the point that they often influence politics and governance.

I should caveat this next statement by saying that I am a deeply religious person. I have been all my life. That being said, I believe that the democratic form of government protected by checks and balances is the best because without checks, people easily abuse their power. If the people are religious and want religious politicians, than I think that is their choice. I do not think that religious groups should try to advance their religion or win converts through government. This is wrong because it is forcing others into false conversion. But there are rights and wrongs that is the responsibility of the government to legislate. For example, people can't murder, steal, or abuse drugs. This gets tough when people don't agree on what is right and wrong (take abortion for example), but the justice system does exist to legislate morality. It has to.