RE:THINK

It is 2024, April 24th. The beach boasts a serene atmosphere with gentle waves rhythmically
lapping against my face and my curls. The salty breeze carries a soothing scent while seagulls
glide gracefully overhead. The sand warmed by the sun, invites barefoot strolls, offering a sense
of tranquility and peace amidst the vast expanse of the sea. Irrespective of the placid aura, I
perceived a sense of pandemonium and I tried to “𝗥𝗘:𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞”.

Rethink on the certain and unexpected thoughts being open to new ideas, challenging
conventional wisdom and unconventional approaches to my mind. My intellect was leading to
exciting discoveries for personal and professional growth. So, let me make you wander into
uncharted territory of critical thinking through my words.

With the air bustling and leaves dancing. It’s like nature’s way of saying, “Let’s shake things a
little bit ! “. Swiftly an opinion reflected my cerebrum.

“𝗜𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔 𝗣𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗?”

Where did religion first come from, and how can we explain why humans seem so drawn to
religious ideas?

𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 : 𝗔𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄

Introduction:

Sociologist Emile Durkheim defined religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices relative
to sacred things, while Max Weber defines politics as the activity of striving to share power or
striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a
state.

Religion and politics are perceived as improbable bedfellows in the contemporary world. Living
with gods and forging lives around elaborate rituals and practices, now being universal and
widespread. An observation is made that religion and politics have each found their own niche
and decided to co-exist. From an individual’s perspective to a national perspective it is
observable that when religion and politics became a base of consideration at any one time,
there emerges conflicts, discrepancies and disagreements.

Cognitive scientists even underlined that religions may be explained as a result of the brain
architecture that developed early in the Genus Homo.
Literature Analysis •

Talking about the speech from the late author, 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺𝘀 in 1998 at Digital Biota 2, held
at 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲´ (Cambridge) in the UK mentioned , “ Imagine early man. Early man is
like everything else, an evolved creature and he finds himself in a world that he’s begun to take
a little charge of ; he’s begun to be a tool-maker, a changer of his environment with the tools
that he’s made and he makes tools when he does, in order to make changes in his
environment.”

His statements gave an exemplar that how faith in religion is verily going to be a responsive yet
sensitive topic in the tomorrowland and how sciences will overtake religion in the circles of
politics due to the realization that nations cannot be governed by just following doctrines
blindly.

Current Scenario •

In human life, each religion has a faith system that is established with the help of religious
values. These faiths influence the political viewpoint of an individual .The media will always
evaluate the life of a politician using certain religious principles. In this case, a candidate in an
election is recognised as a Christian or a Muslim or even a Jew. The religion of a political leader
determines the number of votes he or she would gunner in an election. To explain this we’ll
take in the reference of the United States which affords a perfect example considering that it
was founded on strong religious principles. In the States , politicians associate themselves with
Christianity because a majority of voters are Christians. Whenever political leaders make
speeches, they excerpt the Bible to show the electorate that they understand the Christian
principles well , explained earlier by Brown-Calhoun & Wald in studying the American Society.
The idea that political leaders must come up with policies favoring the poor is based on the
teachings of the Bible and the Quran. Therefore Religion in politics will always lead to
appeasement and often political parties like to cultivate a sense of hatred towards minorities so
in order to appease the majority and remain in power for as long as possible . As the world has
seen in the case of Indian election of 2014 where a major national party (BJP) came into power
by appeasing the majority Hindus and as a result of it we’ve seen mob linching ,attack on
Churches and mosques.

Past-Smash •
Historically, religion and politics have always played a significant part in our everyday lives,
dating back to the ancient pharaohs of 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 to our modern day society. According to Arronoff
(1984), the relationship between politics and religion can be analyzed by looking at the notion
of dualism. A brief flashback reveals that the Roman Catholic Church was once very influential.
During this period the head, mainly the Pope served both as a spiritual and political leader.
However, with civilization and the fall of the Roman Empire, the Pope lost most if not all of the
political influence. Almost all religions discussed by Arronoff show that some form of duality
exists between politics and religion. Perhaps, the reason for such duality could be due to the
realization that politics and religion were needs of all human beings and that one could not be
used to run or determine the other.

Religious ideologies when perpetuates deeper into the political sphere may turn into mass
hysteria leading to the indoctrination of the people. For e.g. Anti Semitism of Nazi in Germany
prior to the second world war for Jews. Religion in politics needs to be value-oriented not
power-oriented as we can learn from the legacy of Ashoka policy of dhamma and Akbar’s Din-e-
Ilahi i.e. the ancient rulers of my country India.

Critical Thinking •

Does anyone notice what are the reasons for religion being used during elections or what are
the reasons that politicians fill the mind of voters based on religion and caste?

1• One of the main reasons is illiteracy, the major population of the country might be literate
but they are still influenced by the promises made by the parties on the basis of religion. There
is a vast difference between literate and knowledgeable people. A knowledgeable person uses
their brain to think rationally before arriving at some conclusion. Whereas a literate person is
the only person with an inoperable degree in his hand that is not to be utilised in any efficient
way.

Lijpart (1999), even analyzed democracy in the world and outlined that there is very little
consideration of the roles played by religion in democracy. Lijpart sketches that democracy is
the reason for the fall put between religion and politics. It is the democracy being sought after
by the Americans that make the American society less and less aware to involve religion in
politics. The case study by Lijpart suggests that fewer countries in Europe and America even
refer to religion when addressing issues related to the formulation of policies. Lijpart points out
that with globalization, communities have been compelled to co-exist with each other
regardless of aspects such as cultural disparities. Therefore, the situation becomes more
complicated when seeking to choose the religion from which to base politics. Democracy
becomes a less difficult , simple and more manageable option since it is at least based on the
consideration of most perspectives and eventually the majority of the population is contented
regardless of whether they have different religious beliefs.

2• The second cause which can be considered as a use of religion as a political tool is the rapidly
increasing unemployment rate in 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀. If the elections are based on religion, then how to
expect that the government will provide any employment opportunities to its citizens? The
elected government always try to overlook the rampage that the youth of the state are always
engaged in any unproductive activity and never stand for their rights (demand for proper
education, job opportunities, skill development and a better future).

3•Politics and Pandering-Political parties often concentrate on certain religious groups and try
to win their votes. Politicians promise to solve problems and meet people’s needs, hoping to
gain their support. The plan wants to get more backing from religious groups by meeting their
needs in religion, society, and money.

Exemplar – In the United Arab Emirates,a political leader must associate himself with Islam
because it is a dominant religion in the region. Furthermore, the religious sects must be stated
clearly before a political leader is elected. In other countries, religion is the major variable in
every electioneering year. It is believed that certain religious affiliations are related to cultural
beliefs that affect the performance of leaders in any political system. Recently, the issue of
religion emerged in the United States when Obama was said to be a Muslim.

5•Religious Rhetoric -Political parties use religious language and symbols to relate to voters.
People might use religious texts, leaders, or ceremonies to show they belong and gain approval
from others.

6•Sectarian Division -Certain political parties use religious differences to gain votes. They do it
by creating tensions between different groups and castes of people . They may trigger religious
conflicts and spread harmful beliefs. They encourage violence among different groups to make
people feel scared and unsafe. This method seeks to unite backing from their own religious
followers by presenting other groups as dangers.

The only aim is to get political backing from religious groups. Religious matters can include
things such as:

• Freedom to practice religion.

 • Safeguarding religious locations.
• Introducing religious customs in public settings

7•Patronage and Treasure Distribution –

It is not the interest of the ruling class to help the poor. The main aim of the ruling class is to
amass wealth and use the proletariat to ascend to power. Political parties that tend to favor the
poor in their manifestos have always clinched political power. Social justice ideology is based on
the teachings of the Bible because the poor must have equal access to resources including
healthcare, education, and employment.

Conclusion :

Politics is a game of numbers and the decisions made when democracy is at play should be the
will of the majority. However, religion does not consider numbers but rather concentrates on
doctrines written in religious books or passed down from one generation to another.

For a good example of how religion affects politics in our modern world we need not look very
far but in our own backyard because Politics has verily found new friends in the form of science
and politics as leaders began to appreciate the political philosophies postulated by scholars
because they were empirical in nature and therefore easy to understand. Therefore, the major
cause of the reduced participation of religion in political affairs is the lack of democratic
opportunities within various religions.

Reference List –

Lijpart, A. (1999). Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty Six
Countries. London: Yale University Press.

Arronoff, J. M. (1984). Religion and Politics. New Jersey: Rutgers.

Brown- Calhoun, A. & Wald, D. K. (2007). Religion and Politics in the United States. New York,
NY: Rowman & Littlefield.