Do you believe Religion and Politics should stay seperate?

Answer 1

Yep

Jesus said Give Unto Ceasar What is Ceasar's and Give Unto God what is God's.

Answer 2

Simple answer is yes. That's not to say a politician shouldn't follow his or her moral convictions, when making decisions, just that the job is one of being a representative, and as such the politician should balance the needs, beliefs, and wants of those he represents with his morals to make the best choice for everyone. Not an easy task, and something that gets forgotten way too often.

As for the separation of church and state, the task of government is as always is to do what is best for the majority. You can accommodate both without forcing anyone into one religious belief system. Take for example prayer in school, it should be wrong to force a child to pray, since that child may not be of the same, or any religious faith. But, to give a moment of silence allows all involved to worship if they wish, as they wish.

Or take for example, the US Dollar bill, with the words " In God we Trust". No problem there, but if You said something like " In Jesus we Trust" or ," In Mary we Trust", or " In Mohammad we Trust" , or even " In Buddha we trust" then you have crossed the line. The difference being that in the first case you are recognizing a belief that is common to all of the religions, and most people(the belief in a god of some sort). In the other examples you would be placing one religion above the others by being specific to one.

Answer 3

Yes, they should. The First Amendment says so, and our Founding Fathers were wise to write it. They had seen what happens when there is a state church in England. Current religious fanatics should read history more. It was not so fine for Queen Bloody Mary to have Protestants burned in groups of six. Some modern fanatics wish they still had the power to do that to anyone who disagrees with their dubious beliefs. Someone doesn't want the English Christian deity removed from our money and the Pledge of Allegiance, but this this was not added until 1955-1956 under Eisenhower. Our first coins had E Plurubus Unum. The Pledge debuted in 1892. We got along fine without any gods on either for decades. Indeed, it is contrary to the First Amendment to put any god on money or pledge. Zeus, Brahma, Yu Ti, Odin, Jove, Ahuramazda, Marduk, Amon, Ra, etc. have as much place on such things as Yahweh the god of Moses. Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin would agree with me. A bit of research will prove that. Christians ignore history and try to force their own false history upon us all.

Answer 4

I guess they should but they never do. Politics to me is dirty games played by sinful people for their own gain, with maybe an exception here and there. Christianity is all about the kingdom of heaven and God's rule over everything and I don't think politics has much to do with that. So it seems like when it comes to politics, religion just becomes an instrument to use for the achieving of a purpose and a hidden agenda even by politicians who claim to be Christians and I definitely don't like that.

Answer 5

As long as we do not allow a repeat of what happened with the Church of England and the Holy Roman Catholic church, then I believe some of our more serious Christian denominations would have a positive impact on society. Unfortunately when you use the word "religion", a lot ill thoughts comes to my mind. But we must never forget that there are some "Christians" really help this world. It would be a shame to lump them in with some of the others.

Answer 6

Religion should not control politics. Politics should not dictate religion or legislate purely moral issues.

However, where there are traditional, historic referrences to God and or religion in Government, they should not be removed. This is yet another form of rewritting history which is never a good thing.

Answer 7

Do you believe that Religion + Politics equals divine right and therefore the end of Democracy.

Yes, Have all the god you want. But clear thought is needed to govern the people.

Answer 8

We all have our own views. Even atheist have views regarding what they believe and why, which I believe, is also a religion (ex. darwinism). We can say that there is no religion in politics but our religions form the core of who we are. All else is peripheral. In all actuality, both are inseparable and I think it would be naive to think otherwise.

Answer 9

Absolutely.

We're not there yet, but it is a worthy goal for which to strive.

For many people, their religion informs most of what they do in their lives, and so we can expect that there will always be people who vote from the perspective of their religious views. That's unavoidable.

What IS avoidable, and ought to be, is religious organizations telling people how, or for whom, to vote, or lobbying our elected representatives. If they're going to do that, they need to have their tax-exempt status revoked.

IMO, even more drastic conseqences ought to be imposed on religious organizations that lobby - like hefty fines and negative publicity.

Answer 10

As a matter of policy...ie no national religion....yes.

As a matter of personal conviction among politicians...this is impossible to separate.

As a matter of eliminating all mentions of God and religion from the halls of government or political debate....total nonsense.

Answer 11

Of course they should be separate. However, I don't want my pastor endorsing candidates, giving church money to campaigns or being in the back pocket of any politician. I think it's fine that he knows the mayor and participates in round-table discussions, etc. It's good to have wise community leaders active in local government.