Session One Summary And Analysis

Session one Summary & Analysis: Religion and politics are two subjects that are often avoided during casual conversation. The same is true about the intersection of the two. The public assumption of the separation of the religion and politics calls for an even greater distance away from the subject. However, as the authors argued in the first chapter, religion plays a more significant role in American politics than most people imagine, but not always in the most expected ways. Therefore, the understanding of the relationship between religion and politics is essential to addressing political issues. Contrasting the Marxist view, where a society built on the exploitation supported by religious doctrines would simply evaporate and no longer endure

The Police power of the government in regulating people’s moral behaviors, thereby transgression with religious beliefs is now a serious concern in the American’s politics. John Locke in a Letter Concerning Toleration attempted to persuade that the government is founded to support external interests, relating to life, liberty, and the general welfare, while the church exists to promote internal interests,( i.e., salvation).The two serve separate functions, and so, must be considered to be separate institutions. Two centuries after the Founding Fathers battled with the issue, the problem still vibrant in the 21st century. John Locke wanted the religion and the State to be separated. Our Founding Fathers attempted to guarantee the separation in the first amendment of the Constitution. However, with the inescapable intersection of religion and politics, as demonstrated in chapter 1 and 2 of the book readings, how one might navigate through the wall of separation between church and States prove to be very difficult. The impact of the intersection regarding politics and religion is prevalent now and still will be in the future as the function of religious beliefs is very different and distinct from the function of political beliefs. Religious beliefs make people morally better and the relations among people “arguably” morally tolerable. Political beliefs only serve to guide the individual to the political interest of his or her party affiliations. However, the separation between one’s religious beliefs and political interest is not, of course, quite so sharp as these observations imply. The theological foundation of religion greatly differs between different types of religion as suggested by Mr. Driskell in the class discussion. Thus, some conduct that might be wrong in one religion might well be properly ignored in another,