Introduction
Religion is defined as the way a person views a reality with a set of values and practices they follow while political authority is a group of individuals who possess the power and authority to make decisions on how to govern a country. In most cases, the political authority may not be in agreement with the beliefs of various religious groups and this may lead to conflicts between the two. There is a close relationship between religion and politics. In the situation where a particular religion manages a government, anyone who does not adhere to the beliefs of this religion will conflict with not only the religion but also the government. (Idinopulos)
Ancient period
In the early days, religion or spiritual beliefs helped to advise governments for instance in China. There have been instances where religion has been involved in legalizing regimes. An example was in China where they believed that a leader came from heaven. This made them only rely on religion to select their leader. In this way, the leader was supposed to be the only one because the belief was that the gods had declared so. In Japan also, religious matters were incorporated within state affairs and the governing regimes at the time used to make decisions concerning religion. The sovereignty would allow the religious leaders to oversee state affairs alongside the governing body. (Brodd)
In the early days in Israel, the religious leaders occupied state positions and they were elected just like the government officials. The high priest held the highest national authority. He was responsible for overseeing all the government projects that were in place. In this way, the government worked closely with the religious leaders to maintain and preserve the kingdom. (Idinopulos)
The period of the Roman Empire
During the period of the Roman Empire, religious leaders were chosen the same way as the Political leaders with the Roman emperor occupying the highest religious office which was referred to as Pontifex Maximus. In the later period of the Roman Empire, the emperors were referred to as divine while they were still alive. During the time of Augustus, the power of the emperor was increased to oversee all the activities of the Roman state and the religious groups. In the Islamic society, the heirs of Prophet Mohammad, caliphs, were the rulers of the kingdom and they ruled with the help of religious beliefs. When the caliphs’ kingdom fell, the successors to the throne stayed loyal to Islam as the religion for the kingdom. (Durkheim)
During the 5thcentury after the fall of the Roman Empire, power struggles occurred between the church and the kingdom on which body was supposed to retain the crucial authority. This is where the religious domain began to challenge the authority of the King in religious matters. Then the Christians began to challenge the role of the emperor where they recognized his political authority. However, they refused to acknowledge him in religious matters. This led most religious groups to refuse to honor him giving rise to conflicts. (Brodd)
Situation in Europe
Europe is another case where religion and political authority are closely related. In this phenomenon, the royal family ruled by the idea of godly rights whereby the King was the head of the crown as well as the church. The pope in the middle Ages was thought of as the messenger of God on earth and was therefore supposed to have the ultimate authority. In Western Europe, the pope held the power to overthrow the Catholic Kings and to appoint them in his mandate. The monarchy ruled in the worldly area but involved the ideas of the church in the spiritual world. This unsettled idea of combining religion and political authority brought many conflicts between the two. (Durkheim)
Religious philosophers point of view
Religious philosophers believe that the state lacks authority to understand individual thoughts and conscience and therefore cannot be able to control people. This argument insists that the government does not have the authority to control individual conscious freedom as this is supposed to be the work of the religious groups. Roger Williams later expanded this idea by insisting that the state should not interfere with religious matters. Thomas Jefferson who was the third president of the United States also agreed with the idea of separating the state from religion. In a letter that Jefferson wrote to a group known as Danbury Baptist, he said that religion is matters that exclusively lie between God and an individual and that the government is concerned with actions only not people’s opinions. (William)
The religious and the government authority
There are many challenges that the state deals with including international financial markets. Increased international markets spread infectious disease and human trafficking whether legal or illegal are among the issues that challenge the state authority. When the governments overlook any issues that regard human rights and issues that affect people, religion intervenes and declares that the government should make changes. In this way, religion and government work to maintain and preserve national values. (Brodd)
The religious authority may challenge the government authority when the religious groups find that the government is overstepping its mandate regarding religion. The religious groups have also challenged the government by declaring that religious policies must not be established by the law of the government. The religious groups also have stated that no individual should be forced by the law to support any religion and nor should anybody be prevented to pursue his religious beliefs. (Durkheim)
Conclusion
Early intellectuals did their best to keep religion and politics separate. However, in most cases, the two systems have always been closely related. There have been situations where religion was used to preserve social structures especially in the past but today there is a lot of campaign to separate religion from politics. Though it is important that the two be autonomous from each other, there must be some laid down policies to maintain checks and balances.
Works Cited
Brodd, Jeffery. World religions.Winona, MN: Saint Mary’s Press, 2003. Print.
Durkheim, Emile.The elementary forms of the religious life. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1976. Print.
Idinopulos, A.Thomas.What is Religion? 1998. Web.
William, Roger. A plea for religious libert. 1687. Web.