Blog post due at 11:55pm on Feb. 16 and comment due at 11:55pm on Feb. 19.
1. In addition to being faiths, are all religions political ideologies?
2. Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
3. Why is Marxist theory called utopia?
4. How were Marx’s ideas developed by succeeding generations?
5. What are the different approaches used by democratic socialism and communism to pursue for equality?
1. In addition to being faiths, are all religions political ideologies?
ReplyDeleteReligions are not political ideologies. While people's political ideologies may be highly influenced by their religion or ethnicity, they are not one in the same. As ideologies "classifications" differ depending on the context of their current government, there can be varying political ideologies from people within the same religion. For instance, in the United States under what we understand to be conservatives and liberals, you can have two people who have the same religion of Christianity and even further subcategorized as Catholic as an example, be on the opposite spectrum of political ideologies. One could be conservative not wanting change for social issues such as reproductive rights, the other could be liberal favoring changes for the same social issues. Though there is a divide in political beliefs which tie back to their religion, each classify themselves as Catholic Christians. To take it a step further, there could be someone who is muslim with Islamic beliefs as their religion, they too could be Conservative within the context of United States politics. Two different religious beliefs, but yet than can identify themselves as a Conservative politically just like the Conservative Christian. While there are different religions who may share commonalities along with their differences, their political ideologies may be the same for different reasons. This doesn't mean that religions are distinct enough to be political ideologies themselves. While both people have two completely different religious ideologies, they could politically have the same ideology in the United States.
I totally agree with you. Though religion and politics seem intertwined at times and they can greatly influence one another, they stem from different places. Religion is faith based and politics is community and, supposedly, evidence based. Politicians seem to use religion when it is convenient and they shun it the same way. I do think that religion influences political ideologies more than vice versa but that also depends on the desired affect of a goal. That being said, just as you mentioned, people with completely different religions can have the same political ideologies and vice versa. Religion may or may not influence those ideologies, but either way, they are capable of functioning completely independent of each other.
DeleteYes, I absolutely agree that faith is sort of a different category when it comes to the ways of living and ideas of what makes a competent lifestyle. Many identifies with certain religious beliefs can maintain a lifestyle almost "contradictory" to some of the widespread teachings of that belief, because the interpretation of what to incorporate into a lifestyle is left up to the individual. Religion is grounded on the idea of believing something, which is likely to largely influence the ideologies of the people it affects. Spirituality is grounded on something entirely different than political ideologies, as stated. It is unlikely though, that someone can maintain a "political ideology" without acting on the obligations it presents. A religion is likely to influence political beliefs, but it is much less likely for political beliefs to influence religion.
DeleteI believe it is in impossible for religion and politics to be kept strictly separate. In Essentials of Comparative Politics society is defined as “…complex human organization, a collection of people bound by shared institutions that define how human relations should be conducted” (57) and political culture “…refers to a society’s norms for political activity” (83). I interpret this to mean that shared institutions, such as religion, bind a society and that a society’s political culture is built on their binding institutions. Furthermore, if a society uses religion as it’s model for how to conduct human relations, then it becomes the norms of that society and makes religion impossible to separate from politics. When something becomes normal, like brushing your teeth, it becomes impossible to separate from or stop. Try not brushing your teeth; I cannot imagine you’ll make it very long, just like a society cannot turn off their religious beliefs when conducting political activity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that while some efforts have separated religion and politics/state, religious views are the foundation in which all politicians claim to gain their moral ground from. Even in current political debate, religion is a frequent reference for candidacy for being the best choice for president. They're careful not to sound too extreme at the cost of losing votes, but feel that referencing their religious faith show their character to be in the best interest of the people. Our society is so historically grounded on religious foundations as well as religious freedoms, given that our Constitution even references God, it seems that it has been the basis for a judge of character for politicians for a long while. This has been the societal norm and continues to be. As Katherine noted, society has used religion to be the model, the model by which we all should live by. It's hard to say one would conduct their politics in contradiction to their religious beliefs.
Delete2) I think that it is impossible to keep religion and politics separate. When discussing and debating politics we need to be as objective as possible. The reason we cannot keep the two separate is because everyone has their own views and opinions about how things should happen. For many, these views come from a moral stand point based on their religion. Since people make decisions about politics it is impossible to separate them from what they believe in. People are also able to sway someone from another stand point by using what they know about religion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Megan. My belief is that religion is involved in every level of politics/government. In a democratic state leaders are selected by their citizens who have similar ideologies, mostly with religious roots. So if we people select government leaders with similar stance as ours, government will have religious influences. Now I think today’s society is advanced enough to be able to separate religious doctrine from the letter of the law. For example, abortion in every religious scripture is frowned upon, while we/our leaders know that abortion should be a woman’s choice, especially in extreme cases. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and that’s the basis to every family union, but we see in today’s society that our leaders are distancing letter of the law from what our religion teaches us. For the most part there’s nothing wrong with religion being involved with politics, as long as we have a healthy democratic opposition balancing out legislative decision making.
Delete3) Marxism theory was considered Utopia by the ideal of breaking down oppression and creating equality throughout all of the different classes. Im Clifford Geertz article "Ideology as a Cultural System" describes the ideal of utopia. "Utopias, on the other hand, are idealized respresentations of the future that imply the need for radical social change, invariably serving the interests of oppressed or subordinate groups" (Greetz 8). Marxism tries to take on the challenge of changing the future through oppression. His ideals were to destroy the class systems and have everyone on an equal ground. This destroys oppression through the rich over the poor. No one person would be unequal but be equals. This ideal is what made ot a utopia for people to believe in
ReplyDeleteI see the point you are making, especially with evidence from the reading, on why Marx's work is considered a utopia. But do you as well think there could different meanings to the world utopia, outside of your (how I'm interpreting your writing) positive view of the world. In my view, Marx's theories are considered utopian because they are, to many extents, unrealistic in the contemporary realm of politics, economy, human nature, and society. So utopia either way continues to mean idealized, but in my view Marx is utopian not because it is ideal, but because it assumes the not real.
DeleteMarx believed that history developed in phases that were influenced by the level of technology at the time. Each of these phases was driven by exploitation of the particular technology. As each class of people attempted to move ahead without success, they would use this technology to overthrow the ruling party and take over in a revolution. Each time this happens, the group revolutionaries that overthrow the existing party grow larger and larger, stronger and stronger. Through each revolt, riches are distributed equally amongst those in power. After so many revolutions, each time increasing the size of the power structure, eventually, everyone will have equal status, no longer requiring a state government. Marx believed that the overrunning of capitalism would happen worldwide and once equal status was achieved, utopia would ensue.
ReplyDelete1. All religions are not considered ideologies. "Ideologies emerged alongside the modern secular state in many ways as an alternative or rival to religion. If religion had in the past helped describe and prescribe the world, including issues of freedom, equality, and power, then ideologies were seen as nonspiritual guides to that same end.(O'Neil, pg. 66) It then continues to talk about how they are similar but still different. So no not all religions are political ideologies.
ReplyDeleteShould religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteI think Religion and politics should be kept strictly separate. In the US our constitution requires it be kept separate in the 1st Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. The idea is that each of us should be free to practice any religion or no religion at all. I think that If we allow religion and politics to be mixed how will we decide which religion is the one that should influence our politics? Is it the majority religion? How then will you protect the minority religions? We protect all religions when we don’t let our politics, our laws, be based on a religion or the lack of a religion. Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Atheism, Agnostic to just name a few.
Politics / government are supposed to make laws for the benefit of all of its citizens. If we allow religious belief / teachings to influence our law makers (and therefore the laws that are passed) we would end up with laws that are based on religious beliefs that many of the citizens do not believe in or agree with. Examples - the fight over abortion and when is life created. The death penalty and an eye for an eye. Same sex marriage and the bible saying it is a sin and marriage is between one man and one woman. All of these issues have religious underpinning to them and for some it is not a religious question but one of human rights.
Is it impossible?
To some extent it is impossible because many lawmakers are heavily influenced by their religious beliefs and they are naturally going to see a potential law or problem through the rose colored glasses of their religious faith even if we tell them they should not. However, if our goal continues to be a separation of Church and State and if we keep that as the law of the land at least we can keep lawmakers from overtly making laws that would force the citizens to abide by a particular faith. We have the Supreme Court to interpret the law (based on the Constitution and the First Amendment) to try and keep a balance between politics and religion.
I completely agree with you on this. There are way to many religions in the world for us to allow it to be mixed into our law making. As you said it does influence some of our decisions but if it influenced all then we wouldn't be allowed abortions or even have same sex marriages. Those are just a few examples of how religion is kept from our law making even though some people weren't to happy about the decisions. Sometimes religion does make its way onto our laws but it doesn't ultimately decide the fate of them.
Delete5. What are the different approaches used by democratic socialism and communism to pursue for equality?
ReplyDeleteBoth socialism and communism pursue community equality and easement of social tensions. Democratic socialism teaches equality through peaceful evolvement. To level out working classes democratic socialism encourages workers to form trade unions for the benefit of the whole population. Socialism also encourages political freedom. Majority is free to form political parties that are voted on by citizens. Also socialist government decides on the size of the welfare to be provided, to achieve equality and social harmony, for poor. On the other hand communist strive for equality through one political party that comes to power by revolution of capitalism. From this point government runs on one party dictatorship, communist party. That one political party creates equal state and eliminates financial classes among citizens. Equality is achieved by centrally planned economy. Government decides on what the state and its citizens need.
I believe that religion and politics should be kept separate. Governments should be willing and able to adapt to the changing times and to the diverse needs of its citizens. Any government that is unwilling to make changes as needed will run the risk of having some form of revolution or even collapsing.
ReplyDeleteReligion on the other hand, is generally less willing to deviate from the tenets established by its founders. If the followers of the religion truly believe that their faith is divinely ordained by God then their views and perspectives are less likely to evolve. Why should they when their God is "telling" them that what they are doing and what they believe is correct? While this point of view can be harmful on an individual level, it can be devastating when it's applied to governmental policy. Decisions made by governments should be based on fairness, legality, morality and practicality not religious ideology. As Michael J Sodaro noted in Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction (pg287) "Political elites are often quite successful at attracting large followings by getting a few key points of their ideologies across to the masses." All too often these ideologies are based in religious dogma that have little to do with governing effectively and fairly but focus on pandering to certain constituents in order to gain political power. It is my opinion that the only true way to keep religion out of politics is to elect secular politicians or elect religious ones who are willing to put aside their religious views for the good of the nation.
I totally agree with Adam here. It will be very hard for things to change in the future as far as politics and religion goes. You come up with a good idea for how it could be changed in that electing secular politicians or electing religious ones. That would be interesting to see what happens and if talk about these two would go down. Good point about fairness and morality. I wish politics was more into that then other things that shouldn't be brought up when talking politics! The political elites do a great job of having everyone buy in and try to come together as one.
Delete2. Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteReligion and politics are both two branches of ideology that just happen to spring from the same place: humanity's innate desire for order and understanding. However, while the two may coexist peacefully in ideology, religion and politics have a tendency to overlap, when put into practice. Now, sometimes this overlapping can be beneficial, if the construction of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs is anything to go by, but the past is filled with catastrophic instances of religion and politics overlapping: from the Crusades, to the French Wars of Religion, to the Second Sudanese Civil War, history is littered with battles and wars fought, all for the sake of politics and religion. In an ideal world, politics and religion would coexist, but never commingle. There would never be any overlapping of the two, and the world would function to the point where it would begin to resemble something of a utopia. But the world is not an ideal place. Politicians, impartial as they might try to be, are very often influenced by their faiths, and people's religion tend to seep into their politics. Thankfully, in many nation's in today's world, there is a remedy for such an issue; not a cure, but something meant to keep politics and religion from overlapping too much: the Separation of Church and State.
I agree with you though I took a somewhat different approach to this question. I honestly believe that if religion and politics were separate, we would live in a much different world. It almost makes me wonder, what would politicians focus on if their wasn't so much conflict with religion and politics? You made a great point that no, we do not live in a Utopia, a perfect world. So in this sense, I guess mingling the two is necessary.
Delete2. Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteThough I'm not sure if its possible, I do believe that religion and politics should be kept separate. History has repeatedly shown us that several of the conflicts of the world revolve around people mixing politics and religion. For example, politicians argue that abortion should be outlawed because it is a sin. However; there are several reasons that woman decide to get abortions. Some women get abortions for health reasons or financial reasons, etc. A law should not control a woman's logic for not bringing a child into this world for her own reasons because it's against the bible. Wars have been fought because of religious differences though we are a country that believes in freedom of religion. For instance, politicians are quick to call muslims terrorists simply because there have been some muslims to participate in terrorists events, but all muslims are not terrorists. I believe that if we were to keep the two separate, politicians may have time to focus on some of the more serious issues of our country.
I agree with you. Religion and politics should be kept separate because Religion and politics do not mix well. There are so many decisions being made based off of one's belief, instead of what is best for the people of the nation. However, it is not easy to separate one's belief system to do a job. Religion is the foundation of what most people make there decisions on. This very reason is what makes it virtually impossible for religion and politics to be separated.
DeleteI agree with you guys, religion and politics should be kept separate but as we've mentioned it seems impossible. I think politicians should be focused other issues. Imagine if religion was taken into consideration when making laws - the world would be in a worst situation. I feel that mixing the two is another form of racism. There would always be an acceptance of one religion more than another and for that reason alone the world would get worst. We already have too much going on in this world to add more to it. Too much chaos and just another form of racism.
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ReplyDeleteShould religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
I think religion and politics should be kept separate. I think this because religion can be dealing with daily practices and its more individualistic where as politics is more general. Page 69 O’neil “Fundamentalism seeks not to return to a premodern role for faith but rather to restructure religion as an ideology- to make faith the sole foundation for a modern regime, a concrete and inherent guide for politics in the contemporary world”. Sometimes the two overlap but I think they should be two different entities. Religion is more personal I feel like, and people have different beliefs of whatever they believe in. I think it isn't impossible but I think it would be really hard for people to get away from it. Its been with politics for a long time and its just hard to change the ways.
I agree with what you're saying about religion being an individual topic while politics are general. Everyone has their own beliefs and even those who share the same beliefs might believe different from one another. This is what makes religions so individualized. On the other hand politics are more general and covers everyone's beliefs whether it be good or bad. Somehow religion will always find its way into politics.
Delete3. Why is Marxist theory called utopia?
ReplyDeleteMarxist theory is called a utopia because it assumes a perfect world without a major explanation on how to get to this form of society. It assumes a consistent view of human nature, and the general goodness of people-- but does not majorly elaborate on the specifics of routing out the bourgeois and the proletariat, or on how to fully realize the revolution.
Marxism theory is referred to as Utopia because of the intended result of a Marxist society. Utopia is a place, that doesn’t currently exist, but would be considered the perfect place to live. It would be free of all social conflicts and stress. Thomas More described this place as a socialist society.
ReplyDeleteMarxism, or socialism, predicted that socialism would eventually develop into a classless, stateless society based on contribution and needs. The situation at that time, and still today in many cases, was that there was a minority that were in the upper or middle class that owned the means of production and there was a majority which were in the lower class and were actually the producers. The elimination of classes and states via socialism would result in an environment free of the stresses and pressures of today’s capitalist society. For the lower, and possibly middle, class this would be seen I’m sure as Utopia. I tend to disagree with the upper class seeing it as a Utopia, as they would lose some of the status and wealth that they currently held.
Should religion and politics be kept strictly seperate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteThis is a controversial question due to the fact that religion has been significantly embedded into different societies, and more importantly is where values and values have originated from. Values play a major role in deciding laws and regulations based on morality and other factors and therfore laws run a society. However, I believe that the concept of religion and poltics being mixed together is problematic based on the fact that politics is an attempt for power and order whereas religion consists of centered beliefs. Politics that are centered around a certain religion in a country that consists of citizens of many different "religions" will not work as it will be biased towards that certain religion that is mixed into the politics. This could lead to laws and actions do not truthfully reflect the general publics opinion. We have also seen examples in the past of religion and politics spreading conflict and violence.
I believe it to be impossible to separate religion and politics. As much as everyone would like for the two to be separate, religion will always come into the picture. Peoples morals are based on their religions. Therefor,political arguments often become religion based. For example, the Pope has just recently come out saying that Donald Trump wanting to build walls would not be a Christian thing to do. Now there has been a large amount of religious debates of the presidential candidates.
ReplyDeleteI do believe in the past that some people have made an ample effort to separate religion and politics, only to have the two collide in the end. Many people withhold their religious beliefs as well as their political views in certain circles in an effort to not offend or to alienate themselves from others. As you have stated, for most people their morals are based on their religious beliefs and those beliefs many times are what has developed the individuals character. That character is what may separate one politician from another, so I would find it extremely hard to separate the two. I heard Trump's rebuttal today and the response was as expected. I would be curious to know how this most recent controversy will impact the election. I believe I read on CNN that 20% of the average voters are of the Catholic faith and their was some insinuation that there would be a back peddling as to not offend potential voters. I suppose we will have to see if there is any impact to the election as a result of this.
DeleteI agree with Laura with her statement, I can separate church and state, how do we really know what people think about really in their hearts about church and politics. But with these people blaming President Obama and I am wondering has any one asked this man what is his stance on Religion, I am so tired of everything that has happened in this country when it comes to religion is President Obama fault, he cant control any ones thought process, Faith and politics have gone on for years in my opinion since some one has taken prayer out of our schools and courts. But they have not taken the national anthem out of our stadiums and sporting events or have not taken God out of national anthem. So some people are blaming President Obama for the low voting from the Christain world, because they didnt get out and vote. Did President Obama bolt all of those doors and threatened those not to vote I didnt hear it, because I watch a lot the debates and didnt hear from it. 20 % is a high number for Catholic faith not to vote.
DeleteShould religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteI think it is very impossible, because of alot of politicians maybe with the bible, because of the content within the bible, because of the part which God is against homosexuality and other policies that must be gone after I believe Christians cant run a campaign like they want to because they know they must be on the side of caution and if they want to win they must lower some of there standards. I watch Christian TV alot and I thought they must not really talk about politics and what they believe in when it comes to politics anyways, because they can be a big influence, but I believe Christians should vote perhaps, but not really talk about it, so have many Christians have run for public offices in the past? Or does Christians run under raps. Politics are very hard when it comes to religion and they talk about it very harshly, I do remember when Rev. Jesse Jackson ran twice and also Rev.Al Sharpton was going to run also at one point, but Mr. Sharpton takes his religion a step forward, he also gets into the world of police politics, which I think is also wrong, I think they should very much kept separate, but just like I think church and state should also be kept separate, because its should be left up to the separate schools if prayer should be in there because of the fact we have different religions in schools now, respect all those religions and God should not be pushed on any one. Because I dont want anyone disrespecting my way of surviving God, just like I dont want to disrespect anyone's God.