Religions Influencing the Policy - Research Paper Example

?Religion and Theology Introduction Religion is a belief that adds meaning to the lives of its followers as well as a purpose to hope for the future appreciate the past and have a clear understanding of the present. Religion is incorporated with ceremonies, rituals, life philosophies and ethical guidelines which make it an important history aspect in the world. Though it has been assumed to play major roles in peace making around the world, divisions and battles have taken place in the name of religion. Over decades, religion has diversified and developed to include major religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Christianity and Islam are the two major religions that have contributed to economic, social, political and cultural development in world societies. Christianity Christianity has over two billion followers throughout the world; God being the Supreme Being then there is Jesus the son of god believed to have died to save Christians from their sins and the Holy Spirit. Christians read the bible and believe in its teachings taught by pastors and priests across the world. Christianity describes the way of life, the reason for existence and the plans for the future nourished by the Holy Spirit. Christians believe that they should not have anything to do with politics instead they should simply preach the gospel. They insist that Christ died for our sins and rose on the third day but that does not make it a geographical or a social entity for violence or political gains (Livingston page 8). But this does not mean that Gods kingdom has nothing to do with the world or that politics are not important, it simply means that the gospel should not be reference for political violations. What Christians should strive for is how the politics will have impacts in their lives and how it can affect their belief in Jesus Christ and the church. It is believed that every Christian is a soldier of the Lord and there are Christians who entangle themselves with politics in the belief that God will not object. There is nothing wrong with fighting injustice or wanting things to be done differently because that’s part of expressing opinion but politics is not an easy way to take for Christians. There will always be question of why a Christians joins politics; their motives are they for fame, money, power or truly taking the seat to serve the people. Politics offers are promising and at times purity motives may be hard to sustain as one will be devoting more money, energy and time on politics than Christianity which encourages one to take on humble ways. Christians believe that you cannot eliminate wickedness by laws or legislation instead the easiest way which is also approved by God is through salvation and forgiveness of sins through his son Jesus. In the bible we see that God established government, but not political sciences that come up with new laws, better laws meant to make the world a better place or try to take advantage of the less elite. Government was meant to give people a leader who ensured that everyone lived according to God’s will and teachings (Livingston page 7). Politics cannot make a better world for humans to live in it or save souls but God can do both. The bible encourages people to follow and even obey the laws put across but it never gives a go ahead for Christians to be involved with politics. This is because Christianity is a big role the same goes for politics and keeping the balance between the two can be overwhelming. Keeping up with the two lives is nearly impossible that’s why Christians are encouraged to stick to their faith and practice the will of God which is spreading the gospel. Islam Islam has more than a billion followers who worship Allah, have Muhammad as their latest prophet and believe in angels. Muslims are the followers of Islam who are devoted to Koran and its teachings. Muslims unlike the Christians are required to know all the teachings of the Koran by the time they are a certain age. Though Islam religion is strict and disciplined in its customs and rules, its countries are in major portion when it comes to international politics. They are always on latest news on how they are fighting and causing massive destructions around the world. Muslims countries have some kind of unity among them as they belief in brother ship that if any part of Muslim is struck by disaster, all Muslim populations will be ready to help those affected or even die for them if necessary (Ayubi 67). But this does not make Muslim countries the most peaceful as a matter of fact there are major instability in Muslim countries than the rest of the world. Most Muslim countries are on political unrest on time with nothing seeming to change or stop the wars. They affect their natural resources as goods do not become cheaper especially when they are at war. There have been questions of whether the Muslims have been encouraging wars in the name of jihad and Allah’s will (Ayubi 43). Muslims beliefs have been causing international instability which result to majority of countries fighting back against them. Non-Muslims are concerned that Islam’s role to global politics is of no good as they are attracting unhealthy attention to the new millennium. Debates have been conducted on how the Islam is being used to oppress people in the name of faith. People no longer know what they stand for as Islamic impacts politics and blames relating to the brutality and violent actions are directed to the religion. Conclusion It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the two religions and their impacts on politics around the world. But with much said and argued it is fair to say that both religions do play roles when it comes to politics. Islam and Christianity have their views on politic which are either strengths or weakness. Islam lacks diversity with other things but believes in Koran to be the way to their prophet even when it means war. Christians on the other side believe politics and religion will never meet. But it all goes down to personal belief of whether religion should be affected by politics and vice versa. Work Cited Ayubi, Nazih N. M. Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Arab World, 1991. London: Routledge. Livingston, James. An Introduction to Religion, 2009. New York: Prentice Hall. Read More