Cause Of Politicization Of Religion

1. Introduction

As we all are aware, our modern world is witnessing a tendency of politicization of religion. As religion is getting more and more serious space both among the politics and public, the politicization of religion has almost become a pervasive phenomenon in large part of the world. The thing is that politicization of religion enhance to political polarization, and as a consequence of that the religious manifests splits in to almost every corner of the world. When religion becomes a crucial dividing power in the social and political arenas, it can absolutely contribute to religious conflicts. As we know politicization of religion currently constitutes a major challenge to peace and security in many parts of the world. The rise

The Causes of Politicization of Religion Sometimes the cause of politicization of religion is the growing anger by a certain religions or sects of religion as a result of oppression by the state or other religions. The persecution which is not only discriminatory; but also create physical as well as psychological ruthlessness, may produce anger and make the oppressed desperate for freedom (Grim, 2007, pp. 633-658). For example, in Nigeria in 2010. 12,000 people killed in a cycle of violence as a tumour of anger between Christians and Muslims stretching back more than a decade (Greene, 2010).

The other cause would be the minority-majority dilemma. Naturally, it is believed that the majority may oppress the minority with the intention of maintaining their faith as a prevailing faith. The minority, on the other hand, may revolt against the majority with the intention of conquering the power (Greene, 2010).

In addition, the growth of extremism is another cause of politicization of faith. In the process of radicalization, political factor supposed to be the direct factor. For example, in recent time the radicalization of Islam has been grown at an alarming rate; and various factors particularly politics is attributable to the growth of this radicalism (Lakshman, 2006, pp.

It’s believed that the violence in in Rakhine has also spread to the rest of the country. There has also been bloody conflicts between Muslim minorities and Buddhists in Sri Lanka, in addition to that the conflict in Southern Thailand counts as the region most bloodiest conflict characterized by division between Muslims and Buddhists. (International Crisis Group, 2013). Furthermore, Politicising of religions is playing a very important role in Middle-East current armed conflicts particularly in between Hamas and Israeli government. Sharia law is taken into a very serious consideration by some Muslim countries in the region, when making new polices or taking political actions. Similarly, on the other side in Jewish community a lot of laws passed by government are supported by “Halaka” which is a quite important fact for Judaism. It’s believed that Israel is the country which guarantees the survival and future of Jewish. (sergie, 2014). Now, if the national interest of a country is the protection of a specific religion and its followers, then it’s clear that the country political decisions and steps will be obscured by their religion. A huge problem which has been noticed with Politicising of religions in Middle-East is that it allows terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Qaida and now Islamic state (ISS) distort