Religion and Politics - discuss

[_Dan_]

Should political decisions that affect the lives of entire populations or countries, be it that of the leader in question, or another country, or even the entire world be made on the basis of a possible fictional deity, the existence of which we have no proof?

Why do we trust the decisions of leaders that claim to "do God's work" and "know God's way"?

Edited by _Dan_ on Wednesday 21st January 00:06

[madala]

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

[gazza_3]

Lots of people will flame me for this, however I think the world would be a better place without religion.

[BigLepton]

madala said:

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

To achieve that aim you would have to remove the franchise from anyone who believed in a god.

[_Dan_]

madala said:

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

And yet they do, Blair, Brown, Bush (Jr & Snr), Obama, Hussain, and every other world leader past and present mention it, especially in times of war.

[_Dan_]

gazza_3 said:

Lots of people will flame me for this, however I think the world would be a better place without religion.

I agree.

[gazza_3]

_Dan_ said:

madala said:

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

And yet they do, Blair, Brown, Bush (Jr & Snr), Obama, Hussain, and every other world leader past and present mention it, especially in times of war.

To be P.M you have to be a protosent (sp) I think, and it is only a think.

[AJS-]

I think religion and politics should mix, on a boat with holes in.

[Aubrey]

One thing that I cannot understand and annoys me is why the Archbishop of Canterbury insists on commenting on Political events and the state of the country. Furthermore, the politicians take his ideas to heart and it makes headline news. What on earth does political issues have to do with the church?

For the record, I am Christian and do go to church sometimes, nothing against the church, just can't see why religious figures feel qualified to talk on national news about political issues.

That is all.

[srebbe64]

gazza_3 said:

_Dan_ said:

madala said:

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

And yet they do, Blair, Brown, Bush (Jr & Snr), Obama, Hussain, and every other world leader past and present mention it, especially in times of war.

To be P.M you have to be a protosent (sp) I think, and it is only a think.

No - you have to be elected! I think you're confusing the monarchy with elected Government - 'servants' of the electorate.

[AJS-]

Aubrey said:

One thing that I cannot understand and annoys me is why the Archbishop of Canterbury insists on commenting on Political events and the state of the country. Furthermore, the politicians take his ideas to heart and it makes headline news. What on earth does political issues have to do with the church?

For the record, I am Christian and do go to church sometimes, nothing against the church, just can't see why religious figures feel qualified to talk on national news about political issues.

That is all.

Should they be barred from speaking on such matters altogether?

Any way, at the moment, practically anyone we have heard of before can get on the news again just by being famous and saying something.

[Aubrey]

AJS- said:

Should they be barred from speaking on such matters altogether?

Not necessarily, but why does everyone sit up and take notice of them? What qualifies them to speak on political issues?

AJS- said:

Any way, at the moment, practically anyone we have heard of before can get on the news again just by being famous and saying something.

I know what you mean there... Geldof & Co. Not that he doesn't do a good job, but does so because he's famous.

[AJS-]

Aubrey said:

AJS- said:

Should they be barred from speaking on such matters altogether?

Not necessarily, but why does everyone sit up and take notice of them? What qualifies them to speak on political issues?

I don't think it's a matter of qualification. Anyone can speak on politics in a democracy.

Why are people interested? I suppose a lot of people still look to the church for some sort of moral and spiritual guidance. Politics often touches on matters of morality, and morality is often formed in part by people's spirituality, hence many people still look to religious leaders for guidance on the moral problems society is facing.

[BigLepton]

Aubrey said:

One thing that I cannot understand and annoys me is why the Archbishop of Canterbury insists on commenting on Political events and the state of the country. Furthermore, the politicians take his ideas to heart and it makes headline news. What on earth does political issues have to do with the church?

For the record, I am Christian and do go to church sometimes, nothing against the church, just can't see why religious figures feel qualified to talk on national news about political issues.

That is all.

To ask that question, you must have a fundamental lack of understanding of how the government of this country is organised. The Archbishop of Canterbury is qualified to speak on political issues because he and some his bishops actually help to make the laws. They are called the Lords Spiritual and are 26 Bishops and Archbishops from the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords and vote on all the proposed leislation put before them, just as the other lords, the Lords Temporal do.

[gazza_3]

srebbe64 said:

gazza_3 said:

_Dan_ said:

madala said:

....religion and politics SHOULD NOT be in the same mix.....end of story.

And yet they do, Blair, Brown, Bush (Jr & Snr), Obama, Hussain, and every other world leader past and present mention it, especially in times of war.

To be P.M you have to be a protosent (sp) I think, and it is only a think.

No - you have to be elected! I think you're confusing the monarchy with elected Government - 'servants' of the electorate.

Dam, see the man in the pub said that, assumed he was right

[Aubrey]

BigLepton said:

To ask that question, you must have a fundamental lack of understanding of how the government of this country is organised. The Archbishop of Canterbury is qualified to speak on political issues because he and some his bishops actually help to make the laws. They are called the Lords Spiritual and are 26 Bishops and Archbishops from the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords and vote on all the proposed leislation put before them, just as the other lords, the Lords Temporal do.

I am well aware that heads of the church sit in the lords. However, why do Politics and Religion still mix? The church may have played a far greater role in peoples lives in the past, but I fear it plays a much lesser part today, this is emphasised by reduced congregation levels etc. My question stands and I don't want to offend, and of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but how does studying the word of god enable you to have influence on political matters?

[AJS-]

Why do business leaders? Charities? Pressure groups?

Significant numbers of people are still religious.

[collateral]

I don't like it one bit.

Fair play if you want to believe in the Easter bunny behind closed doors, but especially today I found all this 'god bless blahblahblah' very cringey.

Funny how much attention the rednecks give to the second amendment while ignoring the first...

[BigLepton]

Aubrey said:

BigLepton said:

To ask that question, you must have a fundamental lack of understanding of how the government of this country is organised. The Archbishop of Canterbury is qualified to speak on political issues because he and some his bishops actually help to make the laws. They are called the Lords Spiritual and are 26 Bishops and Archbishops from the Church of England who sit in the House of Lords and vote on all the proposed leislation put before them, just as the other lords, the Lords Temporal do.

I am well aware that heads of the church sit in the lords. However, why do Politics and Religion still mix? The church may have played a far greater role in peoples lives in the past, but I fear it plays a much lesser part today, this is emphasised by reduced congregation levels etc. My question stands and I don't want to offend, and of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but how does studying the word of god enable you to have influence on political matters?

Because we are officially a Christian country with a state religion and a head of state who is defender of that faith and that state religion is represented in our legislature, unlike any other religion. We have never separated church and state. So long as people with religious beliefs are allowed to vote, their voting choices may be influenced by those religious beliefs and they may look to their religious leaders for guidance on political matters as they have a right to do.

Personally I think all religion is bunkum, but I don't see the problem with letting anyone give their opinions. It is up to the individual whether they agree with that opinion or not.

[andy_s]

After watching the inaugeration today I was struck as to how unsecular the US is as a state. If that had been Iran, with some mullah preaching and all that talk of 'on gods side' this and 'with gods blessing' that it's be branded as another looney getting into ower.
Like schools, religion should be left right out of country management. It's shown repeatedly to do far more harm than good.