Should Religion Influence Government Decisions?

Date written: February 23rd, 2013
Topic: Should Religion Influence Government Decisions?
-Opinions may vary.

Although religions have set standards for human lives, governments should not be influenced by religions when making laws and decisions; considering that our communities have a wide range of diverse beliefs and cultures, there is no place for discrimination nowadays, and excluding a group of people from a legislation is not acceptable in the modern world. Every decision the government makes affects every citizen’s life in that country because people have to obey the laws.

To begin with, people have the freedom of and from religions bearing in mind that they come from different places with different beliefs and values, and that the laws have to be fair to every citizen. Laws give the society as a whole a sense of order, while religions give individuals something personal to believe in and hold on to. Also, religious beliefs are out of sync with the new public opinion about many groups of people and different actions, like homosexuals and abortion, such groups and actions are most likely to be socially acceptable, but are not acceptable at all in most religions.

Furthermore, religions have caused lots of wars and conflicts in the past, such as the crusades between 1095 and 1291, which left England broke, and the holocaust during the Second World War, where over six million Jews were killed. At this time, governments are more civilized, and are aware of the human rights and freedoms, they would not like any riots or discrimination against any race or religious groups, so they would not make laws based on a specific religion that takes away anyone’s rights by discriminating them.

To add on, religions should not influence government decisions because if only one group were included in a legislation, even if it were a majority, all the minority groups would be excluded; which would cause discrimination, chaos, and possibly a civil war. For instance, over three-thousand people died due the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland when England began to establish themselves as the ruling class in Ireland (Catholic) with protestant laws, moreover, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq based on Sunni beliefs, so the Shi’ite were discriminated, which created a civil war.

As shown by history all in all, impeding the freedom of choice, bad experiences in the past such as genocides and religious holy conflicts, and discrimination among citizens are three main reasons religions should not influence government decisions. Religion is a belief, and government is a law made to keep things in order and protect the citizens.