Let’s first define what Religion and Politics Are

Religion is a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects

Politics is the use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc

What are some examples of religion and politics?

Examples of Religion (Beliefs – Remember)

• GOD
• SCIENTOLOGY
• Christianity
• Islam (Muslim Ideology)
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Atheism

Examples of Politics (Strategies – Remember)

• DEMOCRAT
• LIBERAL
• REPUBLICAN
• CONSERVATIVE
• Fascist
• Marxist
• Communist

What Masquerades as RELIGION

Political Views

Look above at what is political. Have you ever found yourself in a political conversation, where the person you are having a discussion with starts to make you feel certain emotions? Emotions like guilt, blame, missing out, or are choosing the short end of the morality stick if you don’t side with them?

What a great strategy…playing on your emotions. It’s a great way to take someone’s ideas that they’ve come by in some reasonable way, at least in their estimation and make them “feel” horrible about it.

Consider the guilt trip…

How could you not support ‘X’? The world NEED’s ‘X’? Without ‘X’ we would be thrown into anarchy or the dark ages! It’s a very difficult feeling to be made to think that EVERYTHING you’ve thought was right is wrong with NO DISCUSSION. You didn’t even realize but politics was wearing a religious mask.

Your only choice is you CANNOT talk to that person. Because they don’t realize that they’ve made religion their politics.

What Masquerades as POLITICS?

Religious Beliefs

Think of the person that wants to argue the scientific merits and proof that Jesus turned water into wine. They KNOW, the THEY KNOW, that Jesus turned water into a 76 B.C. Chardonnay from some vineyard in Tuscany…and there is nothing you can do to convince them otherwise. There’s no way you can prove you or produce facts to exonerate themselves once and for all. WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GO FROM THERE – we’ve all been there.

There’s no way you can prove that Jesus did not perform this act of inebriation. They cannot prove that he did turn Cana of Galilee into Party on the Mt.! But both sides will argue things that cannot be proven or disproven. Mt.

WHERE THE HELL DO YOU GO FROM THERE? We’ve all been there.

Misconceptions on Religion and Politics

Religion shouldn’t be argued – yet we try.

Religion is a set of beliefs or practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects.

Beliefs are the confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.

How can you argue that? It’s like arguing someone’s taste bud preference.

Enter My Wife’s Taste Duds…I mean Buds.

My wife loves this AWFUL pizza place in our town. I’ll never tell you what it is, but she LOVES it. Me along with my son CANNOT STAND this pizza place. It’s absolutely repulsive to me. I cannot believe my wife, a native New Yorker, could like this “restaurant” that puts out such a horrible product. A product that spits in the face of her beloved NYC Pie!

We, as a family, have well-natured arguments about who’s taste buds are “broken” (her’s) and who’s work without flaw (ours). This pizza place is her RELIGION, and the anthesis of this place is mine.

My wife likes the decor, the name, the owner, among other things. Sounds a lot like a religious love doesn’t it.

Me on the other hand, I hate the name. Ugh the decor, the location is difficult, the people seem pretentious to like such a horrible product, and I think the patrons only support the product because the neighborhood is faithful, and they are a captive crowd. Not because it’s good, and I think it’s expensive! As you can see erasing this place from the memories of AMERICANS everywhere is my RELIGION.

Religion can be beautiful and cruel! I’m on the cruel side in this argument, I know.

Neither of us is right or wrong, but we will fight to the death – do us part, on this issue.

Politics are RIGHT or WRONG – NOT TRUE

Politics is the use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc

Loosely put:

Politics is the jockeying for position to achieve power or control…

Politics is the playing of chess to get to some end goal. Chess requires strategy, manipulation, and sometimes deception to achieve the goal, checkmate.

This is probably why politics disgusts me so much. It’s not that there aren’t good politicians or anything like that. I’m sure there are good people that work in politics but, there must be gamesmanship, manipulation, and salesmanship to get us to “join their team”. That’s the name of the game and on some level ‘they all’ play this game.

Politics will introduce things like guilt, exile, shame, loss, or gain to grab for power and control. Politics allows for the exploitation of groups, races, sexes, and gender politics. But because there are “sides” that seek power and control, both sides will see their points as correct and never concede.

This is why we cannot argue politics nor should we ever talk about them. Discussing politics will give truth to lies, and append lies to truths. It’s a hotbed for dishonesty and manipulation. What choice do you have when you argue perspective, and opinions.

Another Example

You know that feeling you have when going in to purchase a car from a dealership or anyone for that matter.

• That pit in your stomach…(anxiety)
• Are you paying too much? (fear)
• Is this a good car? (hope)
• Should you be spending this much money? (sensible)
• Will you ‘loose’ the deal if you drive a hard bargain? (dread)
• Can you walk away from the deal? (strength)
• Do you LOVE the car? (affinity)

Politics plays on all of these emotions in an attempt to gain power and control. So whenever we discuss politics we have all of these…feelings. None of these emotions are based on FACT or any proven strategy like math or science. So if there are no true FACTS to debate or FACTS are perverted and changed – you can’t talk politics. So don’t. It doesn’t have anything to do with your being right or wrong, it has everything to do with the fact that the conversation goes NOWHERE.

Final Example

Have you ever tried talking to someone about their favorite sports team?

There are a lot of die-hard fans out there that would never say anything negative about their sports teams. I mean NEVER. I’ve got a great aunt-in-law that lives in the Bronx. She’s a great lady, Aunt Catherine. She makes chicken cutlets for me, and they are delicious. She goes out of her way to please my taste buds with those lightly fried slices of heaven!

Aunt C. is probably the BIGGEST New York Yankee fan I know. You can’t say ANYTHING against “her team”.

• Forget that MLB has no salary cap (FACT)
• Forget that the Yankees have just bankrolled most of their championships. (FACT)
• Forget that they’ve probably been the most storied franchise in MLB because of the money they spent as opposed to their counterparts. (proposed FACT)

Remember that the Yankees are my Aunt C’s religion. They are her political affiliation. They are who she identifies with as a native New Yorker!

I’ll never say anything negative about the Yankees to Aunt C. Here’s why:

• It would offend her. (antagonize)
• It would hurt me to offend her. (pain)
• Her views of me could change. (perception)
• It doesn’t matter really. (trivial)
• It could cost me delicately cooked and perfectly seasoned slices of chicken. (loss)
• I could lose the good relationship we have now. (exiled)
• She’s older, and who wants to upset anyone…let alone an elder that I love. (customary)
• She’s entitled to her opinions, even if I don’t agree. (respect)

Take a look again at all of the words following each bullet. These are all of the emotions people feel when you TALK POLITICS. They feel antagonized, pain, misperceived, trivialized, like a loser, fear or exile or not belonging, within or outside the bounds of what’s customarily acceptable, and disrespected.

Bottom Line DO NOT SPEAK ABOUT Religion or Politics

Religion and Politics should remain religion and politic. Or what they are called with their masks off – Beliefs and Strategies.

You’ll never get the truth. Too many emotions, fears, and lies floating around. You’ll never get anywhere near constructive discourse. There is no way you can see eye to eye with anyone when they feel you are attacking them. There’s nothing you can do to make someone NOT think you are attacking them when you are discussing an alternate point to their RELIGION or POLITIC.

Think of how you feel when…

Think of how you feel when someone questions your Belief in God, country, finances, or anything at all. You feel offended, and that changes your perception of that person, and your treatment towards them can change also.

Think of how you feel when you talk politics. People get labeled and placed in a container.

• Liberal must have voted for Obama and supported ______!
• Oh, she’s a conservative so she must have voted for Trump and wants _____!

We make very harsh and permanent assessments sometimes based on no evidence at all, only our feelings when our religion or politics are involved.

It’s ok to believe things or to believe IN things. That’s what makes us humans.

Beliefs cannot be proven, and politics can be believed in.

Go fourth reasonably quietly about your Religion and your Political views. Know that they are both very personal to you, and everyone around you has these same personal convictions. Some of what they think will align with you and some will not. That’s ok….but know that since is CLEAR that we CANNOT TALK ABOUT religion or politics we’ll have to stop for now.

Know that they are both very personal to you, and everyone around you has these same personal convictions. Some of what they think will align with you and some will not. That’s ok….but know that since is CLEAR that we CANNOT TALK ABOUT religion or politics we’ll have to stop for now.

Let’s see if this avoiding of the subjects can help us heal to get back to a place where these items can be discussed. Even then – Tread Lightly.