Cohen's editorial, written in 2007, largely focuses on Mitt Romney's religious and political views; however, Cohen's discussion of the close relationship between religion and politics in the United States remains relevant even after Romney's defeat in the Republican primary this past year. Cohen's analysis of Mitt Romney sheds light on, as Cohen puts it, a larger movement of "new American religiosity", which is a movement that poses many dangers to the United States. Cohen argues that we should observe the merits of European secularism in the United States in order to ensure the continued success of our nation. While Wald and Calhoun-Brown explore several unique and valued American political traditions that led to religion's uncommon presence in the United States, I agree with Cohen that the more secular societies in Europe have many positive aspects worth emulating.
Cohen alludes to the words of a French king as he writes "Washington is well worth a mass", meaning it may be necessary to move away from such a strong public religious presence in order to preserve the nation. There are indeed many dangers involved with such a close link between religion and politics. As Morone discussed in "Hellfire Nation", a strong sense of religious morality can create societal divisions based on feelings of "us vs. them." As was the case in much of Europe, this religious tension can lead not only to cases of extreme partisanship like we are experiencing today but also bloody struggles that can ransack an entire nation. Although this last danger may appear extreme and not likely to happen in the United States, certainly today we continue to see both violent actions throughout the world due to religious intolerance and religious conflicts within our own nation. Abortion, cloning, stem cell research, gay marriage, and even recently emerging left-wing environmental movements with "What would Jesus drive?" campaigns are examples of controversies that are based on religious differences and threaten to create irreparable rifts within our society. As argues Cohen, only by moving towards a political system that is not so entangled with religious beliefs and practices can we avoid such dangers.
Posts
4 comments:
Although I do agree with most of Katie's argument about complete secularization in politics as being the only way to avoid controversy, I can't help but wonder how the political realm would be successful without some influence from personal beliefs. Roger Cohen provides a good contrast to American politics with the European example, however, he leaves out the problems that Europe still deals with as a result of secularism. While I don't think that religion should be incorporated into politics, I think it is impossible to completely eliminate personal opinion based on beliefs because it is simply in human nature. Also, doing so ultimately leads to a decrease in passion and righteousness, which are both invaluable to American politics.
I agree with Katie that the American politics needs to emulate the Europeans’ strict separation of church and state. This isn’t to say that personal beliefs don’t have a role in politics, for how many people are capable of removing their personal ideas completely from their work, but just that the invocation of religion, and the acceptance of its direct influence on politics, should be avoided. Religion is a matter of individual faith, and should not be allowed to exert such a strong influence over American politics.
I also believe that religion has had a deceptively strong influence in American politics. However, is this influence necessarily beneficial to our current and future society? As history and Katie have shown, societies which are publicly dominated by a religion tend to lead to more segregation and social divisions among a society, sometimes even leading to a hierarchy-type dynamic. These situations usually end poorly, as a conflict erupts and causes society to be at war with one another. Therefore, unless the American government is equally influence by the diverse religions represented in our country, I would agree with Cohen that any government which is too “entangled with” any one religion must be reformed.
There is no doubt throughout American history that religion has been a vehement, influential force in American politics. However, this phenomenon has not been exclusive in America but also in Europe. For example,from the Crusades to the Thirty Years War, religious tension had created political controversy among in the European world just like in the American political sphere. For example, after converting from Protestantism to Catholicism to secure himself political allegiance from the vast majority of his French subjects, the famous French king Henry IV’s stated “ Paris is well worth a mass”. Thus, his statement reveals the kind influence religion has had on European politics.
However, due to some major reason, secularization has taken over the European political sphere and is now highly valued and practiced. Due to this new political phenomenon, the religious influence that once strongly impacted European politics is now deteriorating. Why and how did this happen? Maybe if we as Americans can fully understand this rather complex question, we can possibly consider to shift towards a total secular political system.
Post a Comment