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<H1>Religion and politics</H1></SPAN><SPAN class=byline>Deepak Chopra <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9px">|</SPAN> May 2, 2011, 01.36pm IST</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV class=clrbth><A
href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spirituality/new-age-insight/Religion-and-politics/articleshow/8142045.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spirituality/new-age-insight/Religion-and-politics/articleshow/8142045.cms</A></DIV>
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<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" class=Normal><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">I
think it's fair to say that there's good reason to keep <A
href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=God">God</A> out of
politics. </SPAN><BR><BR><A
href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Religion">Religion</A>
and <A href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Politics">politics</A> are
both combustible subjects, and throwing them into each other's arms is sure to
cause a fire. Civil life has very different duties from religious life. You
cannot defend yourself in court for breaking a law by claiming that God told you
to. For these and other reasons almost every country erects a wall to keep God
out of the Constitution, yet it seems to be a leaky wall - religious belief is
rarely far from sight when politics grow heated. Life isn't compartmentalised,
and issues from abortion and birth control to gay rights and stem cell research,
bring up personal morality, an area where for millions of people God's voice is
louder than anyone else's. <BR><BR><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">God on your
side </SPAN><BR>Is it wrong - or even immoral - to trump your opponent by
claiming to have God on your side? The very notion that God chooses sides is
suspect. The human mind cannot conceive of being omniscient, but surely it must
include seeing both sides of a question. There is no proof that God favours one
combatant over the other in wartime, yet both camps declare that the Almighty is
their ally. This kind of thinking is called projection by psychologists: you
attribute to "the other" what you believe should be there. Thus God acquires
human attributes because we project them on to him. If God doesn't share our
likes and dislikes, there would be no way to bond with the divine. <BR><BR>If it
is impossible to relate to a totally abstract, non-human God, does that give us
an excuse to take the next step and say that the <A
href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=divine">divine</A>
thinks exactly the way we and our friends do, while rejecting that He thinks the
way our enemies do? No. But religion is such an easy refuge for "us" versus
"them" thinking that it proves inescapable. <BR><BR><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">In times of crisis </SPAN><BR>The struggle to keep
religion out of politics must be waged, yet with the knowledge that it will
never be won. No one is free of guilt in this matter. The most liberal and
secular politicians, people who never invoke God in their personal lives or even
give a thought to religion, are forced in times of crisis to pray in public and
seek divine compassion. "With God's help," falls easily from every politician's
lips, especially in times of war. Who would dare run for office saying, "I don't
care what God thinks. This is what's right to do?" <BR><BR><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Can't wish it away </SPAN><BR>Such hypocrisy is par
for the course part of the political game, and no one has been harmed by it -
until it is taken seriously. If national leaders declare that only the devout
are moral, that only one faith is true, that the world is divided between
believers and infidels, the worst in human nature begins to unfold. No one is
more dangerous than a man who knows he is right, except a man who knows that God
has told him he is right. Whether such a belief rests in the heart of George
Bush or a swami makes little difference. <BR><BR>The problem isn't God or even
the rigidity of dogma. The problem is thinking in absolutes. The irony is that
spirituality, which is much broader than religion, is about the expansion of
consciousness, which involves breaking down barriers. When religion enters
politics, boundaries harden and awareness contracts to a very small circle: you
and the faithful. <BR><BR>Thus religion subverts spirituality, and the claim to
be near to God is made by those who couldn't be farther from the divine. That's
the situation faced by India, the US, and any number of Muslim societies. We
can't wish the conflict away or legislate it out of existence. The struggle
between God and politics is actually a struggle between human behaviour and
human aspirations. We are all part of that conflict, and once we realise that
fact, the crisis will begin to come to an end - for now, at least.
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