Religion in Politics

The number of men, women and children that have executed by the hands of religious politics is unimaginable. Eleven million people were exterminated from 1941-45 by means of execution by gunshot, deadly and fatal experiments, incineration, worked to death without nearly any food, hanged, and the list goes on. For the lucky ones it was quick. Eleven million vanished from the face of the earth by the hands of a brainwashed government under the control of a man who self proclaimed he was doing God's work. Hitler stated, "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice." And "I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator." History has seen many government-backed, brutal attacks on humanity based on religious beliefs. Americans, we need to separate religion from politics in order to prevent future wars and persecution based on religious beliefs or actions.

Throughout history, religion has caused mass hysteria, which led to many persecutions and executions such as in the Salem Witch Trials, and the Holocaust. During the Salem Witch Trials the Salem Courts ordered for the arresting and execution of "witches" Nineteen accused were hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692 and at least thirteen others died in prison. That is a small number compared to the estimated eleven million taken in the Holocaust

When church and state are so closely connected there are many elements that can blind the public from the truth and cause hysteria that could lead to similar events. The early settlement of Salem, Massachusetts was struck by mass hysteria when religious fanatics started accusing women of being so called "witches" when children started acting strangely. The first hanging takes place in 1688 when Goody Glover refuses to admit she is a "witch". Goody and Martha Goodwin get into an argument and shortly after Martha, age 13, starts acting strangely. Goody is arrested and hanged. She was the first of nineteen. Three years later children start acting in a similar way and Doctor Griggs examines the "afflicted" girls, and suspects that witchcraft was the cause. That same year the Minister and the townspeople pressure the girls who were the cause of their strange behavior. Elizabeth accuses Tituba, and later the kids accuse two more innocent women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn. Now we all know witches do not exists, especially in the ways of riding a broom stick or casting spells that make children act strangely. Children act-out all the time, some of them will do anything for attention, like accusing people they don't like of being witches. So children all over town started pointing fingers, and why not they had all the power of the church and court system behind them. More and more accused witches arrested and/or hanged, most of which were Christians just like their accusers. People were so blinded by fear and ignorance that they followed through with the deaths of eighteen women and one man accused of being a warlock, he was incinerated not hanged. 49 of the 52 surviving people brought into court on witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on "spectral evidence" (or no evidence) in 1693. Thirteen years later in 1706, Ann Putman jr., one of the leading witchcraft accusers publicly apologizes for her actions in 1962. Too bad that public apology never brought back the nineteen innocent, god loving people who were sent to death by children's' pointing fingers.

Salem's court system sent innocent people to their graves. They had no proof these people were witches of any sort, but they still saw nothing wrong with arresting and executing these poor, wrongfully accused people. It's possible that events similar to these can happen today; even the United States of America is guilty of its own type of "witch hunt" when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Japanese-Americans were sent to camps.

Adolph Hitler, who was a political and religious leader/icon, used religion and power as a way to brainwash about two million Germans to round up and execute eleven million, men, women, and children. Born to a Jewish family Adolf Hitler was a master manipulator, and ironically was the cause of the deaths of around eleven million people, most of which were Jewish like him. The Nazi's were responsible for the death of two thirds the population of Jews in Europe. This man, or monster, felt he was doing the work of God himself. Not only did he kill Jews, he wanted to create a superior Arian race so he had to exterminate other groups of people like, homosexuals, mentally challenged, Polish, Gypsies, Slavics, and other ideological, political, and socialists groups. How did he accomplish all this? How does one man convince a nation to go to war with the world? He was a great speaker. Calvin Minds in the Making, a German propaganda archive, presents Hitler as a unique master of rhetoric, able to speak the truth to the masses in a way that inspires them to greatness. He also had power in politics and religion, and he used that to change the Germans into Nazis. He promised to fix all of the problems in Germany, and to create a superior race. He brainwashed young children in youth programs by making them ignorant, showing himself as a father figure, he would even gather them at frequent rallies with loud music and standing ovations. This man self proclaiming doing god's work. Men, women and children were killed by means of execution by gunshot, deadly and fatal experiments, incineration, worked to death with nearly any food, hanged, raped, beaten, sliced up, and the list goes on. One man, who had such a deadly impact on the world, caused all of this. It would have taken one man to stop kill him and stop it all, but he was feared and respected. Of the two million military soldiers who stood before him not one could grow the courage to stop him, and very few questioned him. Those who did were killed. History keeps repeating itself, but the difference between nineteen "witches" killed, and eleven million "inferiors" is just a number. Both were caused by religious fanatics with power of the state.

Now that's the past and we're in the present, but there are still issues in the mixture of church in state. Our first amendment it states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The Internal Revenue Service came across a large amount of political intervention by religious groups in national politics in 2004. It determined nearly five dozen churches and charities violated laws against political activities, and there are now 40 active investigations into the politicking of various churches. Religion in politics is publicly displayed throughout America. "In god we trust" on our money. Every morning our children go to school, and every morning they say the pledge of allegiance. "I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the united states of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God..." If church and state are supposed to be separated why are the Ten Commandments posted in the Supreme Court? Why do our children pledge allegiance to the flag, under God? And why, on every form of physical currency, do the words "In God We Trust" show?

Did Muslim terrorists did not simply retaliate on the United States for being a god loving nation, even though their hatred for our nation is obvious. The events of 9/11 instantly shocked our country as a whole. When terrorist Muslims attacked the towers by suicide bombing full planes of Americans into the towers, fear and heartache struck our nation. This is an age old battle that has history. Muslims and Christians have fought for thousands of years. And we are in fact a Christian nation. 76.3% of Americans claimed Christianity as of October 2009, though there are many more Americans who choose a different religious path. In 1998 Osama Bin Laden stated "To kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque [Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim."

This "War on Terror" has affected our nation greatly in a negative way. When the towers fell we lost a large part of our American economy, and about 3,000 total lives in the initial attack. Although the subsequent bombing of Afghanistan to attack Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban for harboring them has also led to some 3,500 civilian deaths, according to an independent study released at the beginning of December 2001. And still our nation is having trouble separating the difference between terrorists and Muslims. For instance, during the heat of anger and shock of the September 11 attacks, extremist tendencies in the West ended up in beatings and even killings of Muslims. Even non-Muslims that just happened to have long beards or in some way resembled Taliban/Al Qaeda members were targeted by the masses.

The amount of lives lost to religious fights is unimaginable. We have all read about the mistakes of our ancestors. The many mistakes repeated through history and camouflaged by religion and politics. We need to put an end to the mixture of church and state. Abolish the problem before it creates more ugly marks in our history. It could mean the difference between the next holocaust, or worse, the last world war.

Sources Used:

1) Douglas Linde,Famous American Trials, Salem Witchcraft Trials, 1692, last update: 3/2007 .

2) Luis E. Lugo, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. October 24, 2009. .

The United States has a long tradition of separating church from state, yet a powerful inclination to mix religion and politics. Throughout our nation's history, great political and social movements - from abolition to women's suffrage to civil rights to today's struggles over abortion and gay marriage - have drawn upon religious institutions for moral authority, inspirational leadership and organizational muscle. In recent years, religion has been woven more deeply into the fabric of partisan politics than ever before.

3) CNN. Oct 24, 2008.

Shows how the first amendment states religion and church should be separate, and shows examples of todays mixtures of church and state

4) All about religion Judaism, Islam, Christianity comparison - Are there similarities? 2009http://www.allaboutreligion.org/judaism-islam-christianity-comparison-faq.htm> Comparing judaism, islam, and christianity. The similarities

5) Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. Encyclopedia. Last Updated: May 4, 2009

Used source to show how religious beliefs caused brainwash and the extermination of specified groups of religions, and people.

6) Brainy Quotes, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/adolf_hitler.html>

Used for Hitler quotes

7) War on terror, < http://www.globalissues.org/issue/245/war-on-terror>

Used for information on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the causes