Relationship Between Religion And Power

Power corrupts everyone who wields it good or bad. The police would beat and help the Nazis take control over the Jews out of fear that they themselves would meet the same fate if they did not swear allegiance to the Nazis. Just like the police the Jews were scared of the Nazis and would beat other Jews for extra rations or fewer beatings for themselves. Power changes people and even those who are not in power are affected, after one and a half long, harsh, years Wiesel is liberated from the camp by the Russians and looks in a mirror, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me” (115). Power corrupts people by shifting their mental state into an area of off balance, changing their normal actions into violent ones, and being a part of an oppressing system. Someone who has power has the choice to do good or bad, to make a difference, and change things for the better but with power it is easy to become corrupted and take the wrong

The word power sounds like it can be negative or positive depending on who is giving the power or who holds the power role. Most people will agree that Hitler had lots of power, he didn't handle his power well but we can all agree he had power

Power, such a valuable thing that can easily be abused, but what exactly is power? Power is control, an unbreakable force obtained through higher authority, or at least that is what the dictionary states. However, is it really power if one fears the corruption of power? Imagine being crammed in a dingy barrack housed with imprisoned groups of men and women living in wretched conditions, praying for liberation. Moreover, being treated like an animal, deprived of food, beaten, and even stripped of your dignity and identity based on your religious beliefs and culture. Unfortunately, those were the living circumstances of Jews during the years of 1933 to 1945 due to the event of the Holocaust which killed approximately 6 million Jews. In the film, “Schindler’s List”, it illuminates on how crucial culture is within a society and how disapproval of differing cultures can lead to social inequality.

Religion can be powerful under the right certain circumstances for social change. However it can be argued that religion can be a conservative force.

Religion is a concept that controls the decisions in governing a country; however, many were overpowered to represent such religion they did not correspond with. In American history, the New World gave the people the fallacious promises to escape religious persecution. Nonetheless, having different beliefs caused war, diverse opinions in politics, the economy, and even slavery. The title of a religious leader was not used to respect God, but in a way to overpower civilians and deceive them.

Hitler killed millions of Jews as well as sent them to over 42,000 concentration camps and starved them and forced them to work. For example Hitler thought that all Jews should be either killed or punished for their beliefs. He then proceeded to kill over 6 million Jews. This shows that power has a negative effect on others because Hitler killed millions of people just for being

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse” once said a wise man named Edmund Burke. Power is the ability to influence or outright control the behavior of someone. Everyone has some sort of power against someone whether it be a mother having the power of telling her children no when asking for yet another piece of candy or a government leader who has the power over the millions of people in their country. There are two roads to which having authority could go down; using power to benefit those who are watching or using power to control those who are watching in a deceitful manner. George Orwell, author of 1984, and Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, created two figureheads to whom were feared by the general population. Did Adolf

Religion had a large effect on violence that broke out within the two empires. Within Islam, two sects reigned supreme. The Sunni and the Shiite. The Sunni believe that Muhammad's bloodline is not the rightful heir to becoming a caliph. Sunni believe that the next Caliph should be voted upon by the Islamic people based on merit. The Shiite believe that Muhammad's bloodline should reign supreme and the Caliphates should only follow lineage. This diametrical opposition directed the Sunni and Shiite to despise one another. Because of these conflicting ideals, riots, attacks, murders, and bloodshed occurred between the two sects. This raging controversy has continued to modern day. Christianity in the Byzantine Empire had bloodshed and destruction

The accomplishments and success of civilizations are closely linked to their religious outlook and the role of religion in their governments and society. Throughout history rulers have used the influence of religions to control their populations and provide the justification for their power. A society with a greater degree of separation between religion and government promotes a superior level of liberty and creativity amongst its people. By the time of the decline of the Roman Empire in the west, however, the world had come full circle to a return to theocratic dictatorship.

During the Nazi German era, which took place from 1933 until 1945, Christianity played a very important role in the rise of Hitler’s regime. The Christian churches greatly influenced not only the formation of the Nazi regime, but also the German folk. The most influential churches were the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Even though Christianity itself faced a state of decline in the early 1930s, the higher clergy of the Christian churches in Germany still managed to make a significant impact. The amount of influence that the churches exerted can be measured not only through the impact of their resistance towards the Nazis, but conversely through the resistance carried out by

The word Democracy means that the people rule. Democracy may require things like freedom of speech and universal suffrage but the notion of democracy sets no limits on what the people may do in their sovereign capacity. The United States constitution is not a true democracy because it enforces limits on what democratic government decides. All liberal constitutional democracies enforce regulations on what private activity government can regulate, including religious behavior. Since counties can be more democratic or authoritarian than others, I like to view the differentiations through the data collected by Freedom House. While the number of countries labeled “free”

Religion and politics have always gone hand in hand. Since the creation of nation-states, religion has been at the forefront of creating policy and enacting laws that mass society must follow. For example, the United States of America was created by Founding Fathers who had Christian ideals. These ideals and customs quickly became the norm for all (ex. Marriage between a man and woman, men are only allowed the right to vote, et cetera). Countries that are founded on religious principle can be criticized for marginalizing those they feel do not meet their notions of what a good human being is (ex. gay people, women, black people, et cetera). The creation of the “other” has negative consequences when one factors in the radicalizing of extremist religious groups.

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

In this course, I found the connection between religion and politics the most important concept we’ve studied. With engagement and understanding of politics becoming increasingly important, it’s valuable to study the ways people both interact with politics and form their political opinions—and as we’ve seen, religion can play a huge role in both of these aspects. However, the way religious groups engage with politics can perhaps be generalizing when discussing major religions, seeing as these groups are often widely diverse and brimming with unique experiences. Therefore, I believe it is just as important to discuss the political dimension of religion with the social influences of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and the interrelations between them.

Throughout history, religion has proved to be the main source of social stability in different communities and cultural groups. Everything that is part of a societal system, including law, is influenced by religious beliefs and practices of that society. This being said, most religions are based on the theory that there is a single more powerful entity, that has control over aspects of which humans do not. For the longest time in history, sociologists have argued that peer group, political movements, schools and most importantly, the family to be agents of socialization. Because of this reason, they have ignored the role played by religion in the perpetuation of cultural as well as social