The Intersection of Politics and Religion

In polite company it is okay to talk about anything but politics and religion. That is because opinions tend to be strong on those topics and opening one of them could lead to an argument, maybe even to hurt feelings.

The two topics are handled alike because they are both close to the core of who we are. Religion speaks of our deeply held beliefs about humankind: our origins, purpose and ultimate destination. Even if we claim to have no religion, that speaks to where we think we came from, what we are about and where we are going. And we shy away from discussing those topics because we do not want to risk having our beliefs shaken.

Politics is about the balance between the good of the collective as opposed to the good of the individual. It comes down to how much individual liberty and property are we willing to give up for the betterment of humankind – and who do you trust to make those decisions for you? It is very personal.

But here is the rub. If we do not talk about these things, how can we grow? If we are never called upon to defend our religion or our politics, our ideas will stagnate. They will become rote memorization of what we have been told, without the intervention of any thought on our part. We will become unwitting, cult-like proponents of “Ours is not to reason why; ours is but to do or die.” And we will all become victims of those who, for their own purposes, want us to believe as they do or as they want us to believe.