Faith and Religion
(b). Faith groups and institutions should not be allowed to form political parties and they
should not attempt to gain influence in the workings of government for their views and
values by entering the realm of political discourse and attempting to elect their own
politician
The judges in Everson v Board of education agreed there was a need for a sharp
distinction between government and religion. The separation of state and religion is a basic
principle of democracy. The state will take care of the good of the whole society irrespective of
religious affiliation.
The ultimate aim in politics is to exercise complete dominance and control of the political
system. The political players seek to compete dominate their political opponents while
opponents. The opponents’ goal is to gain enough power to weaken the system completely and
replace it with their own controlled system. The notion of achieving power and imposing control
of other is authoritarian and inconsistent with conservative religious belief.
Within the Political world, no one gets everything it is a matter of negotiations and
compromise. With most religions, there are only two views of what is right and what is wrong.
There is no room for compromise. Religious groups would force stalemates in politics because it
is either they have their way or nothing else. Religion is about faith and believe and not about
logic or practicality.
The leadership of a religious organization is not democratically elected. Religious leaders
do not represent the people but a section of people with a particular view mostly not shared by
the general population. Participation of religious groups in politics would be foremost to advance
and seek to impose their particular view to the detriment of everyone else. Sense of fairness
dictates that the state must be neutral among religions. It would be unfair for a democratically
elected government funded by taxpayers and representing its entire people to be seen to favor
any group of citizens based on religion (Rawls, 2007). Same way it would be unfair to use
taxpayer’s money to advance a religious cause.
Reference
Rawls, J. (2007). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.