From time immemorial we have seen politics being mixed with religion, though it has always been advisable to not to do so.
It is said that politics is the ‘last refuge of scoundrels’ and the religion is the ‘opium of masses.’
One could now only imagine what doom the combination of two can result in. On the international scale, there have been many instances where various religious factions were seen to be dominating the politics of a given area. Like the recent Israel-Palestinian conflict, the Tamilian conflict in Sri Lanka and the so-called war started by Al-Qaida against the western powers.
In all these instances, one could find a dark and intricate relationship between the politics & religion of the particular area.
Is it Good or Bad?
ADVERTISEMENTS:
A mixture of politics and religion is never good. This is because most of the times the religious interests are diametrically opposite to what is best for people democratically. Religious fanatics would always favor full faith in one leader and suspension of reasonable thought. On the contrary, democratic leaders would ask for thinking based on open-mindedness which focuses on decisions taken on the basis of an apt and sound reasoning.
In a democratic thinking, there is no herd tendency rather people are free to take their own decisions which are based on liberalism. It is a common belief that if religious views are allowed to gain strength it would result in the partition of the nation and the sovereignty of the nation would be in grave danger.
How can it be avoided?
ADVERTISEMENTS:
A mix between politics and religion should be avoided at all possible costs. We can simply choose to ignore the false promises of a political party. Some political parties simply wish to base their rule on the doctrine introduced by the British i.e. “Divide & Rule.” The history of the party, history of the person, their dedication towards democracy and also towards their religion, must be checked before electing a particular representative for your area.
Conclusion:
It should be noted that religion is one’s private affair, and ideally there is no place for it in public affairs. However, we have still seen much communal violence, and we have also seen many innocents put to death just because they do not follow a particular religion. Hence a combination between politics and religion should never be favored.