Politics and Religion

I was viewing a blog today in which the person punctuated his thoughts, his ideas, with quotes from the bible reinforcing the points in which he was making. It was extremely well-written and very convincing but it got me thinking about the use of religious quotes in our lives.

I have rubbed shoulders over these years with people from many religions. Each shoulder rubbing has left me with the impression that here were individuals who thought they had a direct connection to a greater being that we are all in search of. Cabbalists from Safed, religious Jews from Jerusalem or Be’ni Brak, Christians from Arizona or the heartland, Islamic individuals from Egypt. They quoted tracts from their bibles, their holy books that were convincing and powerful. They let me know that judgment day was coming (in fact I already believe it is here) and that I had better get on board. They were “certain” that they were correct.

But what I was reading today was a brand of politics and religion though in fact the politics seemed to be cloaking the religious message. I see this in so many facets of life here in the Middle East as well, and feel that true politics, good politics, have been corrupted by elements of religion and instead of enhancing the moralistic values of our leaders, corrupts them through the certainty attained by or from their religious beliefs.

I am not suggesting that politicians should in any way abandon their religious beliefs, and quite the contrary, feel that good politicians need to subscribe to spiritual wholeness, but they need to rule/govern in a manner that does not come right from the book (whichever book they happen to follow). In Iran you have a ruler who believes in the superiority of the Persian race and follows scripture from the holy rulers. In the states you have a rapturist president who I believe more and more really does want to hasten the end of this world, and here in Israel, well who knows what they have been following lately. What I am “certain” of is that an all magnificent greater being cannot be quantified by biblical passages. He/she is too great, too large, too complicated. WE have simplified it for our convenience and have used these mandates to control others to the point that they are willing to strap bombs onto their bodies and die for a cause they have been conditioned to believe. It is a powerful message, religion, and needs to be used wisely.