Thursday, December 11, 2008

Political versus Religious Ideology

After supper that night, grandpa turned to me and said,

“ Boy, I gave you the opportunity to tell me what changes you’d make in our government for one reason, to give you time to think about your ideology of government. A man needs to think about it in terms of the whole thing not just in terms of a particular issue as they arise. If he doesn’t he will end up making himself look foolish in his hypocrisy.

There is one drawback to it though. Some situations may appear to call for a solution that goes against your principles. These times will challenge your beliefs. It will be these times that you will need to question yourself and your beliefs. It will be at these times you will find out whether it is your mind or your heart that rules your decisions.

It is principles that governs our lives, boy, just as it is laws that govern the life of a society and both must be consistent. They need to be consistent or else people will lose faith in them. War will be the result, whether that war be within ourselves or within a society.

People think that you can separate your political ideology from your religious ideology. This is impossibility. Both ideologies go into the make up of your view of the world. Thus, both must find consistency with each other. You can’t declare that empathy is to be the dominant attribute of one ideology without recognizing that it is the dominant attribute of the other ideology.

There is one big difference though. We, as a people, have set up a government that recognizes that we cannot force our religious ideology upon another. This is not true in regards to a political ideology though. By the enactment of laws, we do force an ideology on those who do not agree with that ideology. This is especially true when those ideologies are very polarized as they be in this day.

The problem is not the result of a difference in belief of the core purpose and intent of government, which is to govern a society. The problem begins in the recognition of its role in the lives of the individuals in that society. They both address the issue of freedom. One problem though, we were not given freedom in this society. We were given liberty. These are two different concepts. In fact, freedom can be seen as a double-edged sword also.

You can have freedom by having freedom from responsibility or you can have freedom by the acceptance of responsibility. Liberty, on the other hand, can be defined as the separation of two entities that was united prior in some way. It is also the recognition of the independence of one that was dependent prior.

It is from the concept of liberty that we find the concept of equality as it can be in an imperfect existence. It is by being liberated from our dependency that we join the ranks of the independents. As one of their peers we get to enjoy all the rights and privileges that comes from being liberated from our dependencies.

This is why boy, that possessing a political ideology is important. It is important that you can defend it. It will be from that ideology that will determine whether or not you remain dependent or become independent. You will need the faith that is found in your religious ideology to judge yourself accordingly.”

I just smiled and nodded then started thinking about what my stance was in regards to my other two changes in the Constitution.

15 comments:

tweetey30 said...

Great idea. He has almost all the answers doesnt he Griper.. LOL.. I miss my grandparents terribly this time of year and there views on life like Grandpa here.. Happy Holidays my friend..

The Griper said...

Merry Christmas, tweety. i miss mine also. regardless of how old we get we still would like to have someone we can be dependent on at times.

Anonymous said...

cool blog!

BB-Idaho said...

That gets me to pondering..
Way back in the mists of time, the political ruler was also the chief priest..eg Moses, the pharaoh, roman emperor, etc. Somewhere in there, religion came to be the sphere of the indiviual's relation to his God, and politics his relation to his state. It could be argued that both systems set out how we relate to one another. States (politics) have their laws and Religions have their equivalent..commandments and dogma:
formal arrangements on how we should live our lives. The looseness of this arrangement, IMO is demonstrated to some extent by the voting habits within a religion..while Evangelicals tend conservative, Jews tend liberal, most other Christian religions, as well as the non-religious, tend to split rather evenly in their political views.
Enough..its too early in the morning to ponder more..:)

Anonymous said...

Great post. It is hard to separate our political ideologies from our religious ones. That is for sure. Hope you are doing well Griper! :-D
Leah

The Griper said...

BB,
given your comments it is easy to see why the concept of "the divine rights of kings" was such an accepted principle at the time too.

The Griper said...

thank you leah and phantom.

and yes, leah, i'm doing well. hope you are too, now.

Gayle said...

I've often wondered why it is that the majority of the American Jewish people vote liberal? But that's off topic. Sorry. It was BB's comment that did it, so I'll blame it on him. ;)

I do believe that my faith and political ideology are in sync. If they weren't, then I would feel as though I had a split personality. But there are people who have faith and no political ideology, and those who have political ideologies without faith. I think that diversification such as that may be what confuses everything, but conversely may be the glue that hold everything together.

I've confused myself. There you go again, making me think.

The Griper said...

he just grins at gayle. don't you just hate me for making you think so much. lol

and i could put up a good argument that nobody is without a religious or political ideology. it may have to be seen from a indirect view but it still is there.

BB-Idaho said...

OK, Gayle confused herself...and blamed me! But she posits and interesting heuristic dilemma:
"that diversification such as that may be what confuses everything, but conversely may be the glue that hold everything together."
Could it be that her either/or observation may be in real life pragmatism....both? I'm confused, and I blame Gayle back. :)

dcat said...

I don't have to think because I know!

In God I Trust!

Everyone else can go skrew themselves!

Gayle said...

I confused BB! WOW! I didn't think it was possible. I'm good! ;)

The Federalist said...

Religion is for people who don't want to go to Hell; spirituality is for those who have already been there.

The Federalist said...

You make good points. They underscore that indisputable truth that this country was not founded on the Christian religion, but rather on Christian principles.

The Griper said...

federalist,
aaahhhh, i thank you not only for the compliment but also providing me with a missing link to my own world ideology. the need to separate dogma from principles is the key i needed.

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