(CL) How Do Religious Beliefs Affect Politics?

Attempts have been made time and again to separate religious beliefs from politics. Constitutions in several democratic countries place a heavy implication that the state should be able to work independently from the church, and vice versa, in as so much as they don't break the law.

The chapter in the book(Global Politics: A New Introduction edited by Edkins and Zehfuss)* presents a very thorough description of the word "religion," but it is, in simple terms, any system of symbols and practices established from a certain set of values that its people should ascribe, more or less strictly to.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution, like that of the United States, also has this briefly and clearly stated in Article II (The Declaration of Principles and State Policies), Section 6. It states, and I quote, "The separation of the Church and State shall be inviolable."

But also like the U.S., "religion features heavily in political discourse."* In countries like the Philippines, where there is one religion among majority of the population, it is easy for the Church to hold a significant amount of political influence on those who ascribe to the teachings of the Church.

Discourse is described as a situation where a person with authority speaks to influence another person/group's view.

In the case of the Church in the Philippine, religion does feature prominently in the workings of the state, such as in the case of the Reproductive Health Bill which the Church vehemently opposed and informed its clergy of its decision and encouraged similar stands.

Although, in scholarly recordings, it seems questionable that there are very few, if any at all, incidents reported relating religion with state-actions. It's as if they actually believed in the separation of the church and the state, yet all evidence should point otherwise.

Many people, of some religion, somewhere, are shaped by their formation in various aspects of their lives, religion included. So to say that religious belief has no weight on political decisions is naive.

Religious beliefs comes with values of a certain kind that come into play, especially when deciding on questionable (im)moral activities. It is nearly as normal and as built in to a person as their education and familial background. It isn't some sort of unfathomable force, but one which shapes the thought processes of each religious buff.

Therefore, i think religion is as influential in politics as education and personal background. The values and experiences you gain from being of a certain religion contributes to the way you think and the way you believe things should be done.