The role of religion and faith in politics is topic few want to discuss. As a person that has worked in sales and customer service his entire career it has been drilled into me to avoid the topics of both religion and politics. Combining the two is a recipe for trouble. However, I believe that religious and faith based groups need to be active in forming political parties, electing people that reflect their faith, and in the process affect the laws by which this nation is governed. This is not only for their benefit, but for the benefit of America as a whole.
The Great Experiment known as the United States of America started with a group of revolutionaries standing up against a tyrannical king. When they penned the Declaration of Independance I am not sure they could have imagined the course of events that have brought us to where we are today. So twisted have their ideas and words become that I am not sure they would want to claim them today. Twice within the first two sentences of The Declaration of Independance our forefathers referenced God as a driving force in our quest. It recognised that there is a “station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God that entitle them,” and “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Fast forward a little more than 200 years and you have a vocal minority that at best claims that they were not referencing a God of a specific faith and at worst pretend like they don’t even exist.
When looking at the group of men that comprised the First Continental Congress I believe you can put to rest the notion that our founding fathers were anything but Christian in their beliefs. In his paper, Faith and The American Founding, Michael Novac discusses the fact that, des...
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...laiming to be pro-life but not wanting to provide medical care for the mother, or by championing the Social Gospel message while at the same time ignoring God’s moral absolutes in favor of radical moral relativism. Like Israel, America too can once again enjoy God’s protection and be a beacon for the rest of the world. A nation that doesn’t tolerate a child going to sleep with an empty stomach. A nation where a mother has to choose between buying groceries and bringing her child to the doctor. A nation where our grandparents can’t afford both their blood pressure and diabetes medication, and only take their Toprol XL every other day to save money. The only way we can do this is by being Christian in our actions not merely in name. By not settling for the lesser of two evils and instead demanding leaders that are accountable to the covenant we made 200 plus years ago.
In the Declaration of Independence references to God are made in four spots. The drafters of the Declaration would refer to “nature’s God” and inalienable rights which the “Creator” recognizing that natural rights were only a result of the Divinity (Declaration of Independence, Greene, p. 298). However, most Americans were not mere deists; they were a Christian people who believed in an active God. Thus in the conclusion the Declaration refers to the “Supreme Judge” and “Divine Providence” (Declaration of Independence, Greene, p. 300). This belief in religion, which of the time was primarily Protestant Calvinism, explains the method of civil resistance pursued in North
“In God We Trust” is the phrase upon which we base our country. It can be seen on our money, in our justice system, and even in our Pledge of Allegiance. By recognizing God as the foundation of truth and justice which most people were inclined to accept, both Paine and Henry formed successful arguments based partly upon transfer. Because God is considered the truth, the right way, and the fair judge of the world, it only made sense to use His influence to give credibility and the positive connections associated with God to the American Revolution. As intended, both audiences freely a...
In the 2008 the United States Census Bureau, Self-Described Religious Identification of Adult Population, The Christian faith proved to be the more dominating religion out of all religions. So it would seem the words “Under God” would be beneficial for the majority, the Pledge of Allegiance allures and supports the loyalty of the majority of citizens. The nonbelievers of religion have had the right to not recite the pledge since 1943 but have been asked to quietly stand while the believers recite the pledge in its entirety. Even though leaving out “Under God” is not a difficult task we can clearly see a division has now developed, opposite of bringing the people together. Another example that shows the pledge allures and supports a loyalty to the majority of citizens, the acceptance and encouragement to keep ...
Hutson, J. H., & Jefferson, T. (1999). Thomas Jefferson 's letter to the Danbury baptists: A controversy rejoined. The William and Mary Quarterly,
Religion has ingrained itself into mainstream American politics. The current Reform Party and many portions of the Republican party platforms evidence this.
Gwen Wilde wrote an essay on “Why the Pledge of Allegiance Should be Revised.” In this essay, Gwen believes that the words “under God” should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. Gwen informs us that the original Pledge did not include “under God” and the words were not added until 1942, therefore, the words can easily be removed. Although some changes have been made to make it clear that the Pledge of Allegiance is for the United States Gwen believes that the words “under God” do not show any support for our country and only make those who do not believe in God feel uncomfortable. Therefore, Gwen believes that “under God” is not appropriate for the Pledge and does not show that we are a Nation that is “indivisible.”
Neglect the “Nations of the World” and instead focus on the “Nation of God”. Christians path in life can be boiled down to giving their full allegiance to the Kingdom of God. In doing so they need to denounce the coercive and violent ideologies of the natural world. Translating this to the Christian call to action, we must follow the Kingdom of God in transforming the world, rather than using politics as a means towards such a transformation. This is based upon his destroying of the notion that America is a Christian Nation: “What gives this understanding of the kingdom of God such strong emotional force is the long standing myth that America is a 'Christian nation. ' From the start, Americans have been inclined to believe that God’s will was manifested in the founding of our country and is yet manifested in the global activity of our nation. Throughout our history, most Americans have confidently assumed our nation’s causes and wars were righteous and just and that God was 'on our side. ' In our minds, and often in our churches, the cross and the national flag have gone hand in hand. Consequently, the conservative church has, to a large extent at least, tended to view itself as the religious guardian of all that is godly in our culture. America is a holy city 'set on a hill, ' and the church’s job is to keep it shining” (Reknew). Remove the temptation and allegiance to the natural world and it can and will distract
have in some way established that Christianity is the official religion of the United States, and for the sake of maintaining our status as a truly free nation, the words “Under God” in the Pledge
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 politicians.
Fraser, James W. Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, c1999.
Integrating Faith and politics can be difficult. Arguments can be made for whether to have complete separation of faith and politics, or to fully integrate the two. A balanced middle-ground between separation and integration can be looked at also. Examples of each can be looked at in history. Complete separation of faith and politics has consequences (both positive and negative). Government that is separated from faith can be efficient, but very inhumane and controlling. Complete integration of faith and politics is influenced by God and the Bible, but it can be just as controlling as complete separation. Multiple disagreements in the Christian doctrine would also cause more challenges in the government. Having a middle ground where only some aspects of the government are influenced by religion can pose problems in certain areas. The middle ground could allow Christians to spread the Gospel (which is the goal of the church). When these three options are compared, one may see an option stand out as an obvious choice. The middle ground between separation and integration is where the church can both stay relevant in politics and participate in the great commission.
When hearing a discussion of the First Continental Congress, many believe that the members, e...
Christianity’s role in America has rapidly changed over the last decades. Although it is still the most popular religion in the country its power over the people has decreased significantly. However, there are still many misconceptions towards American Christianity and in order to understand the unique nature of this religiously diverse country; one must understand its history and its citizens own views on the matter.
Many complain that religious views should not be excluded from politics since a secularism would then be more dominated in this country and would have a high chance of winning by default. For instance, he/she might argue that secularist beliefs are more rationals and rationally superior whereas religious belief are not rational and they are based on faith, authority and traditions. One might also confront that God created all people equally and therefore, racial segregation is wrong and encourage others to start supporting social welfare programs. These kind of people wouldn’t just assert the existence of God, but also think that it is rational to believe in God. When approached by one of these secularists, all you can do is use texts from the holy book or use facts and that’s the only way to be proven wrong. Also, the reason behind the separation of church and state is secularism. The separation of church and state explains that you should have your own particular ideas of worldview can’t force anyone into thinking the same as you; religious or secularist. The separation of church and state will only occur if the state has no religion. A secularist or someone whose religious can’t force anyone into conversion, it takes place when one is happily persuaded by you and decides to convert on their own with the feeling of being welcomed and
The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...