With the election looming in the near future, there will be a lot of coverage of the two major parties, the Democrats and Republicans. There will be attacks on the character of candidates on both sides, attempted assassinations of the legitimacy of their attempts at office. Another thing that you’ll hear from both sides of the mainstream political aisle is repeated attempts to show this one small thing that we haven’t noticed lately. You’ll hear appeals to God and claims of God’s blessings in one way or another so often that it might seem like God’s favor is a necessity for being elected.
One of the arguments that could be made is that a person with close ties to a god is one that is people can trust. Well if you look at politics when it has close ties to a god-figure you see a lot of problems pop up. You see the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades and the Salem Witch Trials for some examples. For a more contemporary example, you see Osama bin Laden who thinks it’s his holy duty to recruit people for the mission of setting the corrupted, decadent Western world on fire. Note, bin Laden was armed, trained and funded by the American government in the past.
Another thing you’ll think of is the controversy with the Roman Catholic Church scandal with child molestation that came to light starting in the late ’90s but there’s a lot that goes into that so, for the sake of time, a mere mention would have to do. Let’s face it; the Roman Catholic Church is just as much a political organization as it is a theological and moral institution. In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, if you can’t even trust the clergy to follow the tenants of their own religion, would you want any person to risk putting religion in politics?
Another problem is that the good book of nearly every religion can be interpreted in many ways. It’s part of the reason why a peaceful religion is occasionally spun as a warmongering group of terrorists. It’s because a small minority of different religions actually engage in action that incites terror. In the Qur’an, the Old and New Testaments, it still dictates respect and tolerance for those of different moral beliefs. Still there are terrorists out there who claim that they are doing violent political acts for a higher power whether it is Yahweh, Christ, Allah or any god/demi-god from different religions.
America is another example. The age-old debate on abortion is still raging, partially because some people are clinging to the belief that abortion should be illegal because it’s immoral due to the issue of sentience. When does sentience start? When does abortion become murder? It’s hard to say because everyone views the start of life differently. There are other issues, like euthanasia that bring about similar questions and equally problematic answers because of personal, world, community and religious beliefs. One big problem area with religion in politics comes up when people argue against gay rights. The problem usually pops up on the more conservative side of government and religious clergy. Time to be honest. The best argument against homosexuality, the argument that it goes against nature, doesn’t even work because there are examples of homosexuality in nature outside of humanity.
While religion is good in its message, if you mix it into politics you run the risk of corrupting it. We have people attempting to work toward peace and it’s not a religious standpoint that makes them work toward peace. It is within the job of the government to work for and minimize the suffering of their constituents. It’s not just their job but also their ethical duty to work for and minimize the suffering of their constituents. It’s not a matter of good or evil, but a matter of right or wrong.
If God(s) really want to play a part in politics, he/she/it/they would manifest to run the nations of the world so we don’t have to. Seeing as how a god, in any form, hasn’t come into being to simply run the world for us, why should any politicians really make appeals to him/her/it/them? It’s just an attempt at making politicians seem more honest than they actually are. There’s one thing to remember though. There is no such thing as an honest politician.