How Do Religious Beliefs Affect Politics?

Religion and politics play an important role in our lives because both of them greatly influence how we think, behave and interact in the society. They somehow dictate how we should live in this world to be able to blend in with the norms. Since they are powerful influences, we tend to be close-minded on the different phenomenon, because we are too attached to what religion and politics inflict upon us.

When I was in highschool, I learned that religion and politics should be separated for they often clash with their principles and values. There is a separation between them because they have different world views, which are religious and secular respectively. Religion is more on the conservative side while politics is more liberal. Let me give the Reproductive Health Bill as an example. I have read in an article in Philippine Daily Inquirer that this bill is passed because it is believed that it has fundamental effects in the human development. It may also help reduce poverty in our country for the reason that population growth is considered as one of its major contributors. However, the church thinks otherwise.

In class, we discussed about religion (Christianity vs. Islam) and its relationship with politics. As we all know, Christianity is the exact opposite of Islam. For instance, when it comes to food, Christians can eat pork while Muslims never eat pork. Whenever there is a terrorism attack (like the 9/11 tragedy in New York), the Muslims are the ones to blame because they are perceived as violent, selfless, heartless or evil unlike the Christians who "can't do such a thing" as they want peace and order. There is always a discrimination and inequity between this two religions. And I just realized it when we did an activity related to this topic, when I found out none of us prefer to live in Iraq and Afghanistan or marry someone from these places.

After the class discussion, I realized that there is still a chance to improve the relationship between the Christians and the Muslims. Religion and politics cannot be separated from each other because they are a huge part of our culture. On the other hand, if both of them learn to accept and understand each others' differences, they would be able to bridge the gap between them. As the hand-out says, they would be able "to achieve similar goals even where the language they use may differ."

I think that if the Christians and the Muslims will be open-minded or flexible, the conflicts between them may be avoided. Conflicts exist because they cannot afford to acknowledge each others' philosophies because maybe, they think that what they believe in is much better than the other. They are fully dependent or too "locked in" in their ideals and standards. Sometimes, we really have to think beyond the box so we would be able to recognize and appreciate the uniqueness of both religions. In this way, peace and order will reign or rule in the world.