What Role Should Religion Play in Government Policies?

Political Science 1020E

Professor Nigmendra Narain

Term 1 Essay: What role should religion play in government policies?

By Nivedita Sen

Student Number: 250589199

Section - LEC 575

In today's world, religion plays a profound part in many people's lives and they find it important to firmly follow the guiding principles of a religion. Religion has been around for many years and although different people have their own definition of what it may be, religion is essentially a personal belief system. An individual's belief system is the set of principles by which the individual lives his/her daily life and which direct his/her thoughts and actions. One question that arises in today's society is: What role should religion play in government policies? This essay argues that religion should play no role in government policies because it would affect democracy of the state, influence laws on the basis of religious grounds and cause oppression of minority religions. In this essay, I first put forward 3 arguments on why religion should play no part in government policies and support these arguments with a range of scholarly articles. Next, I present two counter arguments followed by a rebuttal for each. This is followed by my conclusion, which re-states why religion should play no role in government policies.

Religion is a significant factor in determining the quality of a democratic system (Braithewaite 2). Freedom of religion, or generally freedom of ethics, means that one does not need to agree with or acknowledge a religion or belief if it is against his or her wish. Furthermore, one should not be penalized if he or she wishes to follow one religion over the other or no religion at all. In a democratic system, a person's religious faith is an extremely personal subject. Everybody should have the right to follow any religion they desire as long as their religious beliefs are not imposed on others.

The social impact of a religion greatly depends on whether it is supported by the majority or the minority of the population. A religion supported by the majority has a significant effect on government and on societal principles. This majority religion dominates and impacts the government considerably by either controlling the government. In order for a democracy to function, there needs to be complete separation of religion from government.

Addressing the connection between religion and democracy John Adams questioned, "Can a free government possibly exist with religion" (qtd. in Braithewaite 2). Similarly, James Madison asked, "What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on civil society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of civil society...in no instances have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people" (qtd. in Braithewaite 2).

If religion plays a part in influencing government policies, there will one majority religion achieving control over the government. This will result in religiously inspired policies dominating the social dimension and citizen equality being affected. According to Braithwaite, this happens because the size of the majority religious group can influence the society and create individual preferences (Braithewaite 4). This causes the establishment of particular norms and rules about conduct of behaviour on the basis of the preferences of the majority religious group. These norms discriminate against people who do not agree with the beliefs of the majority group (Braithwaite 4). As a result, the democratic system is affected with the minority groups losing trust in the government as they see the majority group's religious beliefs improperly influencing the state.

Morals are norms of behaviour that the society acknowledges. Religion sets rules and customs for its followers. These religious rules influence the legislative system. If religion plays a role in government policies, it would also influence laws. For example, religious beliefs and morals influence abortion laws in many parts of the world. It is still looked upon as morally wrong on the basis of religious ideas to undergo an abortion procedure. Phillip Montague points that "legal and political debate and decision making should be governed by standard criteria for assessing reasons and reasoning, and when religious considerations fail to satisfy such criteria, they should not be allowed to influence matters of law and public policy" (Montague 17). He further states that these matters consist of abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia along with numerous subjects of social justice such as welfare policies. Montague claims that in comparison with secular reasons, "religious reasons fail by a wide margin to deal adequately with the complexity of such issues" (Montague 17). For instance, a person who argues that homosexuality is morally wrong for the reason that it opposes the divine law would be referring to religious grounds to support his argument and not secular. Individuals should not be arguing for restrictive laws or policies if they do not have secular grounds to support them. They should only put across views that are based on secular reasons (Rosenblum 23). The results from Braithewaite and Bramsen's study which examined the effects of SRAS on democracy showed that when the laws in a state are extremely sectarian and not secular in nature, the state is likely to be less democratic (Braithewaite and Bramsen 244).

When religion is mixed with state, the outcome is societal norms created on the basis of religious beliefs of the majority religion and laws that are in some way influenced by it. As Nancy N. Rosenblum points, partisan faith may forbid certain practices such as consumption of alcohol, abortion, setting up some foreign policy goals et cetera on the basis of religious reasons.(Rosenblum 21). These norms of behaviour and religiously influenced laws are also imposed upon citizens who do not adhere to the majority religion and take away their freedom of faith. Some minority groups have experienced disadvantages inflicted