Religion and politics are the two factors that play an important role in modern times. International relations: these two elements are interrelated with each other, and from the past four centuries, there has been various changes at the international level, especially in western societies. First of all, we will understand the definition of religion. Religion is “an explanation of the ultimate meaning of life and how to live accordingly, based on some notion and experience of the transcendent.” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) Normally, all religions include four elements: creeds, codes, cultures and community structure. This creates reference to the congruent aspect of religion, which is everything that goes into the ultimate explanation of the meaning of life. while the code of behavior or ethics includes all the rules and customs of action that somehow follow from one aspect or another of the Creed. Cult means all the ritual activities of followers, such as prayer. Community structure refers to the relations of followers with each other; it may vary world-wide, and in the same religion, followers have different relations with each other in different parts of the world.
The term politics comes from the Greek polis city or community, but according to the old perspective of Aristotle, politics is much different from today’s s modern Perspective, according to Aristotle, is the practical knowledge needed to be able to live well. Aristotle also clearly mentioned that the aim of politics is to maintain peace in the community and is good for human development. The Aristotle also explains that the community must also ensure the safety of individuals in the community, and he also explains that the community must ensure the role of the law if any individual commits a crime that seems bad for everyone in the community. For example, in the case of a criminal in the society, if any one commits a crime, he must be punished for the sake of rule and law empowerment in the society.
In history, religion was used as a key aspect of many wars, such as the crusade wars and the attack on Constantinople, for several times, but now, nearly in the 20th century, we see that religion is used as a political motive in several states, such as Iran in the 1979 Iran revolution or the Jewish idea of making its own independent state in the late 19th century. These all perspectives explain that religion is interconnected with politics from the past century, such as the attacks of the crusade on the Jeunelam in the 11th century.
The view is also present that in the modern era, the policies of different states are influenced by religion, and policy makers give more influence to religion regarding other perspectives. Examples include Iran and Afghanistan, which are influenced by their religious views. Their presentations are also in conflict in the present day and nearly in the past, where religion is used as a source of public legitimacy, highlighted by the influence of moral appeals by religious leaders. Such examples include the Algerian rehabilitation groups, the Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger Gorilla Forces, the Israel Lobby for Greater Israel, or the Kashmir Freedom Fighters. All these groups connect their motives and ideologies with religion. Note that this all-religion perspective group not only works for the religious factor, but other factors are also involved in it, and they use religion as the key to achieving their motive.
Religion and politics are part of human life, and they are interconnected with social science. Deduced from that, it is also contended that international relations have an origin of rejection of religion, and in the beginning of international relations, many political scientists, such as Emil Durkheim, Ferdinand Toennies, Max Weber, and Karl Marx, concluded that religion was a declining force in the world—one that would eventually disappear. They were all of the view that religion is the factor that is stopping the modern secular system. In short, the phenomenon of these political scientists was that religion was to become a less important factor in the modern era, or modernization.
Many political scientists believe that the modernization in the field of social science and international relations in the 1950s and 1960s reduced the political significance of primordial phenomena such as ethnicity and religion. Also, the formation of IR has attracted the end of political conflict due to the point of view of religion. But there are also modern movements present where the Religion is used as a key for the achievement of their goal, such as the Iranian Revolution. Such movements use modern organizational, communications, and propaganda techniques.
The new trend in the field of international relations is the relationship between sociology and the religion of the state. The United States follows classical liberalism, which, among other things, advocates the separation of state and church, which indicates that it is wrong for the state to endorse any religious activities and to stay away from religious activities. This perspective is mostly followed by Western countries and modern countries.
Politics and religion had great roles in states’ and empires’ conflicts and wars throughout history, and while religion has been used as a key to achieve goals in the conflicts in history. With the passage of time and the introduction of international relations as a discipline, religion is not used as a key in state relations anymore, and in the 21st century, states deal with religion and state international relations separately while not involving religion in state relations or international relations of states.
The writer is the member of PYDIR and student of ”BS International Relations” at ”International Islamic University Islamabad”.