Examine the significance of work culture as a component of good governance. Discuss how Indian work culture differs from Western work culture. (150 Words)
Approach
- Define religion and politics
- Discuss the relation between religion and politics
- Argument how religion is a personal matter
- Conclude
Answer
Introduction:
Sociologist Emile Durkheim defined religion as a systematic system of ideas and practises about sacred things, whereas Max Weber defined politics as the activity of attempting to share power or influencing the allocation of power, either among states or among factions within a state.
Body
The revival of religion, as well as politics, has become critical in world affairs. Initially, few sociologists, such as Max Weber, predicted that modernity would lead to a broad collapse in religious faith and the importance of religion in public politics. However, the phrase “twin tolerations” has frequently been used to describe the link between religion and politics.
To avoid the influence of religion in politics, modern states introduced the concept of secularism. The following are some arguments in favour of separating politics and religion:
Religion is concerned with the private realm and individual faith and belief, whereas politics is concerned with a larger community, such as the nation at large.
The introduction of religion into politics has the potential to monopolise a single ideology, causing a schism in society. For example, the word of religion itself was used to lay the groundwork for separation.
When religious doctrines permeate deeper into the political realm, they can cause mass hysteria and indoctrination of the populace. For example, prior to World War II, Nazi anti-Semitism against Jews in Germany.
In politics, it encourages vote-bank tactics in the name of religion while undermining secularist objectives.
The blending of religion and politics may lead to bias for a specific community.
Conclusion
Religion in politics must be value-oriented rather than power-oriented, as we may learn from Ashoka’s dhamma policy and Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi. Furthermore, in India, secularism was defined broadly to include the separation of religion from politics and the state, the treatment of religion as a private matter for the individual, state neutrality or equal respect for all religions, the absence of discrimination between religious followers, and active opposition to communalism.
