Relax wrote:I would say nearly every societies political culture is a direct image of their religion by and large.
Religion is politics. Politics is religion.
There is no such thing as a separation between the two. The only time this is partially true is when the majority all hold the same base tenents but disagree on the details of their religion.
There is lots of truth to this. Historically religion and politics are mutually reinforcing, especially if you go back in time prior to the Enlightenment.
Where things really get into trouble is when you have a diversity of perspective such as what happened prior to Grayson's civil war.
Personally, I think that faith serves society best by being prophetic, that is, by being a critic of the powers that be and seeking to preserve conscience by sharpening awareness of core values and pointing it out when those values are compromised for the sake of expediency.
I really get the willies when some politician says, "now God really wants...." That kind of talk is the province of the preacher and preachers shouldn't be seeking political power. The mutually reinforcing thing is the broad road to tyranny since the ruler comes to claim either to be God or have the sanction of God which comes to mean that anything he does has divine approval.
Don