written by Shara Love
As I sit here on my couch on a late evening thinking back to a conversation I had with a friend the other day about the belief in God when it comes to many matters political, I ultimately wonder to myself – just how important is it whether God exists or not when discussing anything political? What I think is that it is quite possibly the underlying reason for many political debates, which stem from very personal values, and therefore is very important indeed on all matters political, social, personal or other. I intend not to make any claims or judgements on the actual existence or interpretations of God rather, I am just stating an opinion about the relevance in the belief of God when it comes to such matters and what that belief brings out of people when called to action.
As many people may be able to attest to, belief in God and the word of God has stirred up wars amongst human civilization for centuries. Interpretations in these beliefs alone have been called to question many times. What is obvious is that many people have values and beliefs that are rooted in and built up around religious ideas that involve an interpretation of God’s existence. These beliefs form our identities, our family relations, our groups of friends and our allegiance to particular communities, nation and so on. It would be naïve to believe one could put their belief in God aside when discussing something such as women’s rights when it comes to abortion or rights of refusal for medical attention to those identifying as LGBTQI. These are very hot political topics as can can be seen in the United States right now and I cannot imagine a single argument against these issues that don’t involve an argument stemmed in religious tenets of God.
I don’t intend on making this a long drawn out argument for why God is important on many political issues, I just am stating it as a reminder for those who tend to forget that arguments between single persons or groups of people often stem from disagreements in beliefs that come from interpretations of the Word of God or the lack of the belief in God altogether which puts the question of the importance of God at the epicenter of all intersections of political discussion. But if we were born into some other religion, or lack of, other than the one we may possess at this moment, the individual story would be completely different but overall the same in terms of differences of opinion or belief. We must wake up and realize that humans are complex creatures either created in the image of God or evolved into who we are today from some prehistoric entity and we are here to play the game of survival together. While the belief in God may very well be the center of our war mentality, we are in this fight together as the same species amongst a kingdom of species that we (believe it or not) depend on for our own survival. These are just my late night thoughts, nothing more.
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