Religion Doesn’t Belong in Politics

Frustrations and Thoughts of a Mediocre College Student

I’m tired of extremist conservatism. I’m fed up with Christian/Muslim/Jewish fundamentalism. There should be no bible thumping or preaching being done in Congress or any form of government. I have no issue with the religious becoming involved in politics, however, when the Bible is used as a science, historical or geopolitical textbook that’s where you lose me. For instance, a debate was held between my Grandmother, my mother and myself yesterday about Israel and Palestine. I, not knowing the entire history truthfully, did side slightly with Palestine. I stated that I sided with Palestine because it seems there is an ongoing attempt by Israel to “push Palestine into the sea.” My mother took the side of Israel and my grandmother was against building more settlements. This is where I had to bow out. My mother stated: “Russia and China are going to take us over then go for Israel. Once they try to take Israel judgement will come. It’s right there in the Bible.” Then my grandmother replies: “No Sherry, Israel will be taken over. Remember they’re the ones don’t believe in Christ..” Blah, blah, blah. Really? This is exactly what I meant by using the Bible as a geopolitical textbook. Please, keep Jesus out of politics. This is why the separation of church and state was established. It’s ridiculous and it needs to stop. Stay vigilant. Stay aware. 

40 thoughts on “Religion Doesn’t Belong in Politics”

  1. Agreed. Separation of church and state should be the principle that we stick to most. Without it you put the two most corruptable ideas in human history together and history has shown that the results are not good.

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  2. A very wise Muslim leader, Kemal Ataturk once said and I quote: “I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men.” He is the reason that people in Turkey are not fanatic Muslims.

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    1. If only Turkey was still such a sanctuary! It doesn’t seem so free of religion’s throttle right now, at least from what I gather from the news…

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      1. Turkey now is under Erdogan’s regim, who is a autocrat just like Trump. I have no idea why he got voted in, I assume there are some things going on in this world that I can’t understand anymore. As for Turkey, they are -like many in Europe- less religious as we here in the U.S. are. It’s an interesting place to visit. Half of the country belongs to Europe, the other half to Asia.

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  3. I’m sorry, but I must comment here as the headline got my attention. With all due respect I would challenge most on this thread to do some research before making statements about such topics of end time revelation, the history of Christianity or Separation of Church and State (which is the most lied about concept in American Government). Google would be a good place to start, and not hyperbole from opinionated ideology. Just a thought.

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      1. First to take Jesus out of our political system you would have to tear up the constitution. Our Republic is structured after the Romans with a biblical component. Short answer I know, but you can verify with a little research. Separation of Church and State is not a constitutional concept. The constitution only guarantees that the federal Government cannot force one particular faith on anyone, avoiding a theocracy. It does not state that faith cannot be part of our government. I.e. Swearing on the Bible, prayer before Session of congress etc.

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  5. I agree 100%. We need the wall between church and state. It’s actually the only way to protect both the religious and non-religious but sadly so many of the religious extremists are to brainwashed and stubborn to see it’s in their own best interests to support that wall.The simply can’t help but stick their religious noses where they don’t belong. You might agree with my own post about how the Religious Right Wing America’s War on Sex, Women, and the LGBTQ community. https://ascwwblog.wordpress.com/

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  7. I completely agree that religion doesn’t belong in politics. The first century Christians weren’t involved in any political issues although they could have participated in protests against the tyranny of the Roman Empire. Jesus Christ mentioned that his Kingdom is not of this world so trying to merge the kings and kingdoms of this earth together with religion doesn’t make sense, especially since Daniel 2:44 mentions that God’s Kingdom will put an end to the kingdoms of the earth. The issues in Israel and Palestine are small compared to the grand purpose of a worldwide Kingdom that’s completely unified. The great crowd mentioned in Revelation is made up of all tribes, peoples and tongues so there is no premier race or special group of people but the ones that worship God in spirit and truth are the ones that will be saved. The violence in Israel and Palestine prove they’re both wrong in the conflict.

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  8. Let’s get one thing straight. The only thing that Separation of Church and State is for is for laws making you follow a certain religion. That is it. Period. When you are an American citizen you do not have to be a Christian. You can follow any religion you choose or none at all. Try that in Iran and see what happens. One more thing about Separation…. that everyone want to twist to suit them. Nowhere in that clause did it say that you are free from having to hear, see…about religion. If we had a little more Jesus here we would probably have less violence and protest.

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      1. We can probably go back and forth. But schools aren’t teaching kids to think critically anyhow. One example of proof is the election. Regardless of which side you chose (discussion for another time or not) look at all the kids crushed and crying by Trump’s win. These kids probably didn’t know much about the issues at hand. But the teachers, news, and a lot of parents all spoke about how Hillary was going to win and attacked anyone that may have stood up for Trump. There probably (I wasn’t in attendance to any classroom so I will use probably) wasn’t any Pro/ Con discussion for each candidate. So like I was saying I feel schools teach what to think not how to think.

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  9. The recent inauguration made me terrified. Why is religion influencing so much of politics? Why are personal and individual beliefs being pushed onto the masses? Is it because people are scared and need something to hold on to? Or is it because that is what people genuinely want. As a non-American, there are a lot of stunned onlookers around the world that can’t believe how religious the country is. For a country that prides itself on democracy and the letter of the law, there are a lot of religious rituals pushed into events that have no reason for including them.

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  10. Yeah that’s a great example of three people who probably shouldn’t be discussing complicated issues like this, especially since Hamas are the ones who want to drive the Jews into the sea. But more practically than that Israel is willing to live with Palestine but Palestine sees Israel’s existence as the problem. You aren’t really dealing with religion in this discussion you’re dealing with 3 people who don’t know what they’re talking about and 2 of them happened to say very strange things about how biblical prophecy is “related” to this conflict.

    What’s really funny is you have a picture of Degrasse Tyson who I’m pretty sure is a reductionist about mind which if true would make him a fundamentalist since full mental reductionism is not only impossible & absurd but really only defended by “scientists” who simply do not understand anything related to philosophy of mind. That being said fundamentalists shouldn’t be “morally” excluded. As Plantinga pointed out years ago that word is = to sonovabitch now. Tyson’s materialism is false, and it’s demonstrably false. I don’t care that he’s a fundamentalist (I really don’t know if he’s a reductionist but that’s almost dogma amongst his peers so it’s a safe bet) I care that he’s clearly wrong about something very important.

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    1. But taking the Bible very literal is dangerous. There are numerous archaic ideas in there. The funny thing about siding with Israel to me is the book of Revelations. If a Christian’s ultimate goal is to obtain eternity in Heaven, don’t you think they’d wanna speed up the end times process? You know, let a couple rockets destroy the place. Rebuild the temple? The Bible and a lot of its beliefs seem to contradict itself.

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      1. I don’t think it is dangerous at all. Yes, Christians do want to go to Heaven although we actually do not want to speed up the end times. You see, we want to preach and convert ad many people as possible before the rapture. It is why Christians just don’t all die and go to Heaven. We have a purpose. We, like God, do not want anyone in Hell, so we are to do what we can to save them.

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      2. Well, what is it then? Some say we have free will & some say God has an ultimate plan. If God has an ultimate plan then why try to convert? If they are to believe in Christ, then God will make it happen. How holy do we have to believe we are to think we can alter his plan?

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      3. Oh we have free will. It is just God knows everything that is going to happen because he is all knowing. Yes, God knows every single person who is going to get saved. Although we, with are free will, ministered to the person and that person accepted Jesus. God knew they were going to, but we used our free will to minister and that person accepted God. God knows who is going to, but there are, unfortunately, people who woulda gotten saved but Christians don’t minister. God also knows that person would have so he calls people to minister to the person, but the Christians, with free will, just don’t.

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      4. But if he knows everything that is going to happen how is that free will? If a government was in place that had everything planned for you wouldn’t you call that tyranny? And if God is all knowing, don’t you think he would’ve known the things he said in the Old Testament would one day be outdated, social stigmas. You know like slavery, invest, genocide, extreme patriarchy, killing gays, killing adulterers. Those are all things we no longer except & if he knows everything then don’t you think he would’ve been against them from the beginning?

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      5. If the government said in 20 years you are going to own a successful business and they forced me to do it, that would be tyranny. Although, if they said the same thing and didn’t force it and I simply did it, I did it of my free will. Slavery was never approved by the bible. It existed and God gave rules concerning it, but he never said it was ok. Most things you said were the laws for the Israelites to follow not for Christians to.

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      8. The Earth is simply not 6,000 years old. There is too much scientific evidence to disprove that. There are even Christian scientists who do not believe in Creationism but retain their faith. Every religion that came before Christianity is now viewed as myth and it is my opinion that Christianity will fall into that category one day as well.

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      9. Actually there is no evidence (except the already flawed dating programs. Like, look it up. They make so many assumptions on carbon or potassium flow. It is ridiculous), but there is a lot of evidence for young earth like sedimentary levels, salt amount, carbon being in rocks (in an old universe carbon shouldn’t be in the rocks anymore) I actually wrote a list of evidences on my blog and here is another website article which has 101 pieces of evidence for a young earth http://creation.mobi/age-of-the-earth

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      10. I’ve done all the research on my own. I was raised Christian and remain the only atheist in my family. But the idea of a tyrant in the sky always watching me doesn’t really make much sense to me. I’m only asking that you do as Descartes would’ve liked all Christians to do and question their faith.

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      17. I thought it was interesting, and thank you for the compliment on my writing. You know, humans knew for 4,000 years that Jesus was coming before he actually showed up. With this in mind, it only makes sense that other people would come forth as the Messiah with similar stories. Everyone knew that Jesus was coming and the prophecies that would be fulfilled when he came, so it only makes sense that people would come forth with with similar stories like Jesus’s. Although, I assure you, Jesus is the only person that has fulfilled EVERY prophecy concerning the Messiah.

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      18. All I am saying is there was religion well before the Bible was ever written and there will be many after. I wonder if Jesus & the start of Christianity was as much of a religious pariah as Scientology or the Mormons.

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      21. I have. More than once! I come from a very Bible literate family. I realize that in America today there are not a lot of fundamentalists, but there were in the past. And it’s definitely dangerous. Incorrect interpretation of the Bible lead to witch hunts, slavery being accepted & justified, the crusades, etc.

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