Viet Nam Human Rights
Religion should stand outside the state’s affairs
4/6/16
The relation between religion and politics always
plays an important theme in political
philosophy, despite the emergent consensus on the right to freedom of
conscience and on the need for some sort of separation between religion and
state.
Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy
places, ethics, and societal organization that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of
existence". Different
religions may contain various elements, ranging from "the belief in
spiritual beings", the
"divine", "sacred things", "faith", a
"supernatural being or supernatural beings" such as angels, or "...some sort of ultimacy and transcendence
that will provide norms and power for the rest of life.
Politics is the process of making uniform
decisions applying to all members of a group. It also involves the use of power
by one person to affect the behavior of another person. More narrowly, it
refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance —
organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is
the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually
hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s)
between communities. It is very often said that politics is about power. A political system is a framework
which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. History of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal
works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and the works of Confucius.
I think religion and state should be kept a particular
separation, especially in administrative works and law-makings. Religion is to
be kept separate from government so that law-makers are not enacting laws based
on their mystical, unsound beliefs. Your moral mandates that come from religion
are fine for you personally, and they are fine for everybody else who follows
your religion. But imposing them on people who do not share your religion is
infringing on their religious freedom. Laws that cannot be justified in a
secular manner should remain limited to your religious beliefs and not imposed
on others who don't share those religious beliefs.
It’s obvious in many countries that religion and politics
should not be mixed. Here in India it is a common feeling of the educated
gentry. Usually such people are afraid that if politicians subscribe to a
particular religion, they will oppress followers of other religions. There have
been examples of such oppression and atrocities in the past where a ruling
party crushed or ostracized members of a religion not followed by them. There
are also some states that are religious and do not favor citizens practicing
other religions. This is understood to be the chief cause of fear in the minds
of people who support keeping religion and politics separate.
John Locke, a famous expert, expressed his ideas in:
A letter concerning Toleration (1689),
tends to speak more about the ‘difference’ between the ‘Church and the State. Locke was ‘concerned with religious freedom’ and
believed that the biggest threat to citizens would be if the state starting
talking about religion (Chavura, 2010:39). It is evident from Locke’s letter
that he did not accept the notion that the church and state or religion and
politics should be one entity. In fact he wanted them to be as separate as
possible so no religious force or power in government could rule the citizens’.
If there was no religious force then everyone religious or non-religious could
enjoy the same rights as everyone else.
In relation to Islamic countries, even though Islamic
liberals claim that there is a divide of religion and politics, in the current
climate it is clear to see that religion is not separated from politics and
sharia law is still as practiced as it was when first insinuated. However,
generally from the ideas of many key liberals who spoke about the separation of
religion and politics were concerned with the idea of religious freedom.
Nonetheless they put forward a strong argument for the separation of religion
and politics and many Western countries today abide by this notion.
In Vietnam, on legal aspect,
Vietnamese government is non-religion political system. But the Party and State
of Vietnam protect religious freedom of many religions such as Christianity,
Buddhism, Islam, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai,… However, many religious dignitaries and
followers have abused this right to carry out their sabotage activities against
the country. So, we need to classify a separation for those individuals like
priests Nguyen Van Ly, Nguyen Thai Hop and other religious dignitaries to
understand religion and politics more, and do not interfere with the
administrative affairs. Let the government do its business./.
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All comments [ 10 ]
Many times I read that religion and politics should be kept separate. They should not be mixed.
By now many of us are familiar with the right-wing argument that religion and government are inextricably intertwined, that the two have always mixed and can never be completely separated. However, a group of legal experts at a recent forum have criticized this assumption as a myth
Because not everyone shares your faith, and it’s a politician’s responsibility to represent their constituents.
It’s important because conversation is a necessary component for discussion and democracy, and you can’t have a conversation with someone if you don’t speak the same language.
One reason for the importance of this topic is that religions often make strong claims on people’s allegiance, and universal religions make these claims on all people, rather than just a particular community.
It is probably inevitable that religious commitments will sometimes come into conflict with the demands of politics.
Conflicts concerning religion and politics arise outside of curricular contexts, as well. For example, in France, a law was recently passed that made it illegal for students to wear clothing and adornments that are explicitly associated with a religion.
If liberty of conscience includes not simply a right to believe what one chooses, but also to give public expression to that belief, then it seems that people should be free to wear clothing consistent with their religious beliefs.
Yeah, these matters should stay separated!
I don't believe Nguyen Van Ly. Nguyen Thai Hop are a true religious dignitaries.
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