Church and State Interplay - Essay Example

Church and Interplay Religion affects all the aspects of human life. Even to those regarded as nonbelievers often find themselves altering words such “Jesus Christ” and “God” whenever they find themselves in challenging situations. This is simply because one may have been exposed to some of form of religion and subsequently religion may have found root in his or her way of arguing and even speaking. This is why there is a natural inclination for people referring to religion words when people are in pain or angry. Bearing this in mind it is easy to acknowledge the interplay that exists between politics and religion. Religion by itself has a greater impact on almost all the aspects of human live. Religion has an impact of human life aspects such as morals, fiction, as well as on aesthetic aspects such as art, architecture, and music. Additionally, it can be argued that religion acts like the guiding principle of life. Religion being the mirror of most human life aspects there is always some collisions whenever things deviate from the religious point of view. Of importance to note is that in some instance, the different religions find themselves conflicting when they fail to concur. The politicians are elected to lead the people as well as to make laws to guide the way of people live. The politicians are expected to have a balance between what the population wants as well as to moderate on religion expectations. The religion requires the state to enforce laws that they believe are morally upright. In most cases, there arises some form of ambiguity when what the religion want implemented and enforced by the state is not implemented. For instance, according to religious point of view, abortion should be illegal and the state should enforce laws to illegalize the action. On the other side, the state maybe of the argument that under certain conditions abortion should be legalized. The state may base its argument on medical ground such as when the life of the mother is at risk, abortion should be legalized to save the live of the mother. However, according to the biblical point of view killing violates God’s commandments. This simply implies that only God has the right to take the life of a person. Through killing, the inborn to save the life of the mother violates this commandment. This may be a cause of disagreement between the state and the religion. The religion does not want the state to legalize such critical laws for the benefit of religious living. On the other side, the state wants to act for the well-being of its people regardless of the religion teachings and beliefs. For the state to make its judgment on such situations, it may opt to sideline the religion point of views and move with the majority of the people decision. A challenging issue on the other side arises when a country has more than one major religion and each with its own point of view. Each religion and its follows want their own point of view to be respected. In such situations, the state find itself in a critical situation when enforcing the laws as it has to forego the views of a particular religion and move with the majority of the population. For the offended religion, coming to terms with such ruling is not easy; as they tend to believe that, their religion is, being compromised (Berman 35). Politics interplay with religions in a number of ways. A good example of this is the involvement of internal politics with significant religious organizations. A good example of this is in 2005 when Pope Benedict XVI was voted to be the Roman Catholic Pope. This was irrespective of the fact that the largest population of the Catholic followers are of Hispanic origin living in Central or South America. Another example is on religious group external politics organization. This regards the religious practices as well as beliefs on certain civic processes. For instance, the Muslim religion feminine gender refusal to pull off their headscarves in situations where they are required to prove identity, say for instance, during voting. Note the Muslim religion does not allow women to take off headscarves while in public. Another example of the interplay between state and religion is when politicians act the secular role affecting the religious organizations. A good example of such an incident could be when the government passes laws requiring religions to incur land taxes for the property they own. This maybe equally to other groups, for instance, charity organizations. Another example of interplay between the state and the church is the religion and politics formal relationship. A good example is the official state religion. In addition, a good example of this is the Anglican official state religion of England while the Pope rules the Vatican (Berman 67). Politics is all about debates and conflict. It is about presenting and arguing a particular viewpoint with the aim of wining the majority to accept that particular point of view with the purpose of achieving particular goal. For instance, if the point of view of the religion is to assist the impoverished, then it follows that the religion would focus on a number of factors. Such factors may include, apprenticeship programs, providing employment opportunities, improving the education standards as well as welfare funding. In such scenarios the religious politicians aim would to lay their emphasis on the importance on these things. This is with a focus of gaining and winning voters support and possibly implement the changes after debating. In this regard, religion is seen to play a very crucial role in transforming the society positively and for the benefit of the people. The power struggle by the religion in most cases comes with its subsequent price. For instance, a particular religious denomination may support religious persecution as well as capital punishment of a different denomination. When two religions are in conflict, the nation can be negatively impacted by this hostility. Good examples to this type of hostility are the Northern Ireland Protestants and the Catholic denomination and the Shia and Sunni Muslims of Iran. Such types of hostility between religions will in most cases result to terrorism and war. In conclusion, we may argue that when one particular religious denomination group has more powers in the government than the other religious denominational groups, then the other religious groups feel sidelined and neglected. In addition, they may feel that the government or the state for the case is mistreating them. Eventually the interaction that should exist between the religions and the state ceases to exist because of misinformation as well as miscommunication. Such a situation only serves to retard the development of a nation Work Cited Berman, Harold. Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. New York: Harvard University Press, 2003. Print. Read More