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How religion influences government
Conflicts Between Politics And Religions
Conflicts Between Politics And Religions
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The message of political alignment is a vast and varying concept, one that will be debated for as a long as party divisions exist. This divide however exists in not just the Christian community. We begin with the metaphor of a shepherds flock, blindly following what an individual says over ones own thinking. Boyd furthers this concept of alignment and how “many who left sincerely believe there is little ambiguity in how true Christian faith translates into politics. Since God is against abortion, Christians should vote for the pro-life candidate, they believe- and the preacher should say so” (Boyd 2). This blind adherence to one topic, one issue is unfortunately a failure on an intellectual level of all people, whether Christian or not. The …show more content…
He focuses on religion as the primary reason, but let us take this one step further. Every American, regardless of religious affiliation (which is in many regards just a detrimental as Boyd 's argument against political alignment) should be wary of political absolutism. The world is not black and white, and neither are our political candidates. To fixate on one issue or one party is to toss reason out the door and become a blind believer. Faith might work for some in the religious arena, it does not and cannot work in the political arena. We can hope God does not have a secondary agenda, but for the entirety of humanities existence people in power always have ulterior motives. And this brings us to Boyd 's topic of alignment to an individual who is anti-choice. Just as we know and understand Christians believe in keeping a child, so does a political candidate. They are called platforms for a reason, they get you into office. Be wary of such absolutes, as they are routinely a gambit. In the Christian context, this alignment causes a barrier to God 's work. God is not interested in politics, His sole interest is in a better world, one where each and everyone of us strives to help each other, but to align oneself to politics or a “Worldly Nation” is to ignore the “Christian Nation”. Boyd believes “a significant segment of American evangelicalism is …show more content…
Neglect the “Nations of the World” and instead focus on the “Nation of God”. Christians path in life can be boiled down to giving their full allegiance to the Kingdom of God. In doing so they need to denounce the coercive and violent ideologies of the natural world. Translating this to the Christian call to action, we must follow the Kingdom of God in transforming the world, rather than using politics as a means towards such a transformation. This is based upon his destroying of the notion that America is a Christian Nation: “What gives this understanding of the kingdom of God such strong emotional force is the long standing myth that America is a 'Christian nation. ' From the start, Americans have been inclined to believe that God’s will was manifested in the founding of our country and is yet manifested in the global activity of our nation. Throughout our history, most Americans have confidently assumed our nation’s causes and wars were righteous and just and that God was 'on our side. ' In our minds, and often in our churches, the cross and the national flag have gone hand in hand. Consequently, the conservative church has, to a large extent at least, tended to view itself as the religious guardian of all that is godly in our culture. America is a holy city 'set on a hill, ' and the church’s job is to keep it shining” (Reknew). Remove the temptation and allegiance to the natural world and it can and will distract
In the first chapter of Nathan Hatch’s book, The Democratization of American Christianity, he immediately states his central theme: democratization is central to understanding the development of American Christianity. In proving the significance of his thesis, he examines five distinct traditions of Christianity that developed in the nineteenth century: the Christian movement, Methodists, Baptists, Mormons and black churches. Despite these groups having diverse structural organization and theological demeanor, they all shared the commonality of the primacy of the individual conscience.
In the novel “Holy Land” and the essay “An Ordinary Place”, both written by the same author, D.J. Waldie, have the same description about the suburb area during his childhood, but has different meaning and style of the writing. In the novel “Holy Land”, he talks about the 1940s when the suburb area was build. He said white men worked hard every day and built over five hundreds house a week. In “An Ordinary Place”, he talks about how the suburbs are like in the present, also more diversity with different ethnicity lives there now. Both novel and essay is written by the same author but they also share some similarities and differences about his experiences in the suburbs and author writing style.
Nathan Hatch has been noted as one of the most influential scholars in the study of the history of religion in America. Nathan was born in raised in Columbia, South Carolina. Records show that Hatch graduated Wheaton college summa cum laude and then advanced with his masters and doctoral degrees from Washington university in St. Louis. Hatch also served as an associate dean at Notre Dame’s College of Arts and letters. It was there that he instituted and directed the institute of scholarship in the liberal arts that involved many changes. Because of the many awards he won, hatch was then pronounced vice president for graduate studies and research in 1989. May it be known that he became the third person to hold that position since its establishment
New brands of distinctly American Christianity began developing early in the country’s history. Before the revolution, George Whitefield set the stage for American religious movements. The most important factor that helped launch these movements was the American Revolution. The country was ripe with conversation and action on a new understanding of freedom. The revolution “expanded the circle of people who considered themselves capable of thinking for themselves about issues of … equality, sovereignty, and representation” (6). The country was beginning to move toward an understanding of strength lying in the common people, and the people’s ability to make their own personal decisions on issues of leadership and authority. There was a common belief that class structure was the major societal problem. The revolution created the an open environment that pushed equality of the individual, allowing political and religious beliefs to flourish and grow without being held in check by authoritarian leaders.
In Nathan O. Hatch’s “The Democratization of American Christianity” he quickly forms his thesis and expands on the argument “both that the theme of
Christianity’s role in America has rapidly changed over the last decades. Although it is still the most popular religion in the country its power over the people has decreased significantly. However, there are still many misconceptions towards American Christianity and in order to understand the unique nature of this religiously diverse country; one must understand its history and its citizens own views on the matter.
Fea, John. Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.
Throughout the year Christians have strived to do the will of God. From to converting people into Christians to making a society pleasing to God. Christians in America have been present since the colonial times. In the late 19th century, they were still thriving in the United States. In the early 20th century they were still involved in the broader American culture, committed to shaping public policy and welcome in political life. But as time continued, evangelicals started to create their own subculture, no longer involving themselves in politics and the rest of the American culture. By mid to late 20th century, evangelicals saw that the nation was becoming further way from God and it was affecting them. They sought to partly reinsert themselves in the American culture and politics and found they were not as welcome as before. Even though they are not welcome, Christians must try to do the will of God by turn peoples eyes back to Him in everyday life and politics.
Lopatto, Paul. Religion and the Presidential Election. Edited by Gerald M. Pomper. New York: Praeger, 2014.
Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print
The Story of Christianity is a book written by Justo Gonzalez; a native of Cuba. Gonzalez serves on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center which is located in Atlanta Georgia. He attended Yale University, where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. in historical theology; in fact Dr. Gonzalez is the youngest person at Yale to be awarded a Ph.D. He is also one of the first generation Latino theologians and instead of growing up Catholic, comes from a protestant background. In addition to writing many other books, Gonzalez is also Cokesbury’s publishing chief narrator of the Christian Believer study video lessons course and the recipient of the Ecumenism Award from the Theological Consortium in Washington, which he received as a result of his ecumenical work of bringing together churches of different denominations
...atin America, giving hope to those who are or were afraid to let go of the controlling grip of western dominance and showing that the opinions of the south will be more traditionalist and supernatural. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the changing face of Global Christianity. It is clear that a watershed event has occurred, and we are just now becoming aware of this change. Though at times this book was a bit dry and difficult to read but in the end it wasn’t a bad read. The first few chapters I felt overloaded you with information but as I kept reading it slowly dwindle down to analysis, narrative, and application of the information. For Christian readers, I think the value of this book prepares you for the “new world order” so to speak in Christianity as Africa and Latin American decide which direction the church will take.
Thomas, Oliver "Buzz". "How To Keep The 'United' In United States: Coping With Religious Diversity In The World's First 'New' Nation." Church & State Feb. 2007: 19+. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.
In this essay, I will argue that one of the underlying motives in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the reinforcement of Christian values in 18th century Victorian England. Dickens was very concerned with the accepted social norms of industrialized England, many of which he felt were very inhumane. Christian values were challenged, largely due to the recent publication of Darwin's Origins of a Species, and philosophy along with literature was greatly affected. In 1859, the industrial age was booming, making many entrepreneurs rich. However, the majority of the lower economic class remained impoverished, working in unsafe and horrific environments as underpaid factory workers. Additionally, child labor was an accepted practice in Victorian England's factories. Dickens, who worked, as a child in a shoe polish factory, detested this social convention with such strength that only one with experience in such exploitation could.
The rise of Christianity in western civilization is arguably among the most important memories in history. There is no denying what the spread of Christianity has done for the world, for better or worse. Its impact on western civilizations is unrivaled and unprecedented. Christianity slowly became something for many individuals to turn to; in times of hurt its provided comfort, in times of pleasure it has given thanks. The will and belief for salvation has driven individuals to be better, and to have a reference while in need. The rise of Christianity more than 2000 years ago provided necessary building blocks for the future. Without Christianity there would be no cathedrals, no monasteries, no music from one Johann Sebastian Bach, no paintings from Michelangelo, nor no philosophy from Saint Augustine (Backman 205). There are countless times in history, whether good or bad, that can be credited to