Religion

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Religion
And Politics

The influence of religion on humankind can be traced back to the first records
of history. Religion has served as a pillar of strength to some and binding
chains to others. There are vast amounts of information and anthropological
studies revealing the interaction of religion and humankind. However, for the
purposes of this paper, the time periods of study will be broken up into three
sections. Each section will give a general description of how religion affected
the institution of the state and its Sovereignty in a Euro-centric perspective.
The first period is the early period, which will encompass from Christianity and
the Roman Empire to the Medieval times (approx. 311 to 1100 A.D.). The second
period will include the Renaissance, the Reformation to the Treaty of Westphalia
(1101 to 1648 A.D.). The third and increment of history will range from 1649 to
1945 A.D. The date 311 A.D. marks the issuing of the "Edict of
Toleration" for Christians. This date is important because it symbolizes
"national" acceptance of Christianity, and planted its roots as a
political institution. Later the Roman Empire on the verge of internal collapse
acknowledged the importance of Christianity and used it to hold together the
remnants of it former self. This adoption of Christianity took form and
eventually became the Catholic church. The church became intermingled with
politics and became a strong entity. The policies delivered from the church had
more authority than the local rulers and magistrates of the developing feudal
system. For example, St. Augustine wrote about war and what justified its
enactment against fellow men. This policy was followed and adhered to for
hundreds of years after St. Augustine wrote it. Another example, is the use of
the Bible as a guideline for establishing governing systems. Scripture portrayed
God as choosing the king of the people. The pope, being God's
"representative" was then given the authority to crown the king. This
crowning process gave the pope large influence in the political arena. This
ritual continued for a number of centuries. The Crusades, which occurred around
1100 A.D., played a crucial role in challenging the church's authority. The pope
identifying the spread of Islam as evil requested all of Europe embark on a
"Crusade" to defeat the infidels. As the battles were fought, great
treasures were found in the form of books and knowledge. These books were crude
translations of old Greek texts, containing ...

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