The Theological and Political Problem and the Emergence of Philosophy in the West and Islam - Essay Example

The theological and political problem and the emergence of philosophy in the west and Islam The modern world consistsof politically stable countries most of which are effective democracies inferring to the establishment or regional territories governed by the rule of law and the will of the people thus safeguarding their interests. Besides the political stability of most countries, the world today has effective communication systems all of which have succeeded in making the world a global village (Guerra 12). Political stability coupled with effective communication infrastructure has played an integral role in spreading the two leading religions in the world, namely Christianity and Islam. The social contract theory of leadership which is the foundation on which most of the modern democracies is built establishes that the society comes together and signs contract with their leaders to lead them for a period and defend their interests. In doing this, the elected leaders conduct in accordance to pre-established ground rules commonly refer to as the constitution. In the formation of both a state ad the constitution governing, religion plays a great role key among which is unifying the society. The society is a group of people habiting a geographical territory. The group of people draws most of their uniting factors from religions key among which are Islam and Christianity (Guerra 42). Religion is the belief and the worship of a supernatural being. Most people use religions to find answers some of which the common knowledge of science cannot always provide. Religions base their teachings on the definition of life providing answers on the origin of man and his destiny in the afterlife. Basic knowledge in science explains these questions quiet vaguely. In doing this, religion teaches on societal values, elaborates a list of vices, and advises their adherents against such. In doing this, religion thus defines society and by making people more peaceful and more united (Reilly 33). Religion therefore plays a part in the formation of nations by defining the societal values some most of which find their way in the constitutions of the country. The American bill of right, which is the most elaborate explanation of human liberties, seeks to defend the privileges of humanity; the privileges are based on equality human life, which is a basic teaching of all religions in the world. Religions therefore are the centerpiece of the social structures enjoyed in the world today. Coincidentally, the social structuring of the society results in the creation of the political structure (Manent 41). Religion extrapolation therefore by is responsible for the creation of the political societies in the world today. Following this understanding, the political societies today should not experience some of the troubles it currently experiences. When Marc Guerra refers to the problems of the modern civilization as being theological-political, he possibly is referring to the fact that most of the problems in the modern day world arises from a misunderstanding between the roles of politics and the religions in the creation of a just and fair political societies (Saha 44). He asserts that the failure by the people to understand the link between religion and the political structure has resulted to these problems. Religions continue to expand their followings throughout the world as the world currently has the best means of transportation and communication thereby making every part of the world accessible to the multiple missionaries of every religion. In such a situation where the world continues to experience the uniting effects of religion, it becomes ironical for such societies to experience strife and the type of problems that adherence to a faith could effectively solve. Marc Guerra therefore offers that the problems arise out of the ability to differentiate politics from religion. Religion resulted in the formation of the politically structured modern day societies, by separating religion from politics the societies become more polarized. The modern societal structures have leaders while in the churches and mosque religions have their leaders. The societies are thus torn on where the source of direction is. The political leaderships have an effective mechanism of enforcing their policies and laws of governance. They thus are more powerful than religious leaders who lack a mechanism of influencing their teachings. Religions do not coerce followings and rely entirely on volition of the people to adhere to their teachings. Additionally, political leaderships have boundaries and therefore have effective means of monitoring the performance of every citizen since the governments have their own structures of implementing their policies (Said 23). Religions on the other hand do not have an effective jurisdiction. They overlap in their following from region to region thus creating a lack of order, in attempting to solve this religions created their own structures of management most of which have turned political. Religious leaders today are engrossed on the political management of their jurisdiction thus forgetting their all-important job of managing their spiritual fellowship a feature in the modern religions that have resulted in confusion among societies. Additionally, religious leaders have always received acknowledgement from political platforms and their opinions on national matters is often considered important. However, their following continuously show a great lack of commitment to their spiritual leaders especially in Christian communities where the society accords different understanding to their political and spiritual leaders respectively. While the following on churches and other religious functions continue to increase, the society pays more attention to politics than to religious guidance. This double standards on the society results in discord thus the societal lack of direction witnessed in the world today (Adamson 22). In upright societies, Marc Guerra explains that people should not differentiate politics from societies. Politics merely manage the resources while religions manage the personalities. With effective religious management, a society should be peaceful and have effective coordination between the political governance and the spiritual nourishment from the religious leaders. The kind of disharmony in the modern society thus is an indication of the lack of effective religious management and the fight for dominance between politics and religion. Marc Guerra further explains that the current fight for dominance in the world religions is responsible for the social discord in the community today. A country like Nigeria in Northern Africa has experienced intense war and industrial strife over the years wooing to the constant conflict of religions. It is the dream of every religion to expand its following and have as much believers as possible, this compels religions to traverse the world in missionary works and try to woo more followers. However, this maneuver for more following takes Muslims into Christian territories and vice versa instead of the two selling their religions peacefully, some resort tp violence thus claiming lives and causing political strife in the process. A bigger part of Europe is inclined to the Christian faith and is politically stable thus peaceful while a bigger part of Asia is inclined to the Islamic faith. Unfortunately, this portion of Asia is politically unstable as the other part of Europe. The peace in Europe is however not attributable to their inclination to Christianity while the chaos in the Middle East is also not attributable to their inclination in their Islamic faith (Guerra 44). The peace and the chaos are both political creation and thereafter influence the spread of the two religions in the regions. This indicates the level to which the society have shifted their allegiance from the religious set up that led to the creation of a political society to a stable political society with a secular structure. Despite the fact that the society is technological and have efficient communication and interaction structure, more people still do not know of the existence of the religion. The word has not reached quite a big percentage of people in the modern society. China for example is the greatest country in Asia, the country is filled with indigenous religions and the people in this country are yet to receive knowledge on either Christianity or Islam. Funnily enough, china is a country that has no effective political structure and survives has survived on one dictatorial politician party since independence. It is thus worth asserting that politics and religion are two concurrent factors responsible for the existence of peace on modern societies. They complement each other and the absence f one results in anarchy though not of equal measure. Works Cited Adamson, Peter, and Richard C. Taylor. The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Guerra, Marc D. Christians As Political Animals: Taking the Measure of Modernity and Modern Democracy. Wilmington, Del: ISI Books, 2010. Print. Manent, Pierre.The greatnes and misery of liberalism. Wilmington, Del: ISI Books, 2011. Print. Reilly, Robert R. The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. Wilmington, Del: ISI Books, 2011. Print. Said, Edward. The Clsash of ifnorance. New York: OUP, 2002. 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