Blog Discussion Group Two
Blog post due at 11:55pm on Jan. 29 and comment due at 11:55pm on Feb. 1.
1. In addition to being faiths, are all religions political ideologies?
2. Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
3. Why is Marxist theory called utopia?
4. How were Marx’s ideas developed by succeeding generations?
5. What are the different approaches used by democratic socialism and communism to pursue for equality?
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ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: Why is Marxist Theory called utopia?
ReplyDeleteBefore we can understand why the Marxist Theory is considered "utopia," we must understand what utopia is. Stories and films often portray it as a place, but it can also be a people or society. It can even be imagined as all three. But, beyond that, what IS utopia? Utopia is paradise--people live in harmony with one another, there are plenty of resources and never natural disasters or emergencies, and there is no sadness or despair. Everyone lives happy lives, and it's perhaps the closest we'll get to heaven on Earth.
Now, to get to the main question: why is Marxist Theory called utopia? Karl Marx concluded that due to the insufficient pay that workers received (insufficient in that it's barely enough to keep them alive), they were being "'alienated' from the very products of their labor." (294, Sodaro, J. Michael et al.) Marx believed that the only way to conquer capitalism was to adopt communism, because it promises a total commitment to equality, security, unity, and solidarity. That means that everyone would work the same and be paid the same. And because everyone earns money, nobody would have to worry about being jobless, homeless, hungry, or anything of that nature. There would be harmony and unity through equality and security, and everyone would ultimately be happy (in the eyes of Karl Marx, at least). Therefore, communism, which stems from the Marxist Theory, IS utopia.
Just in case, here's the full citation: Sodaro, J. Michael et al., Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001), ch. 13.
DeleteShould religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to keep religion and politics separate. It is hard to keep religion and political motives separate from the public debate. In the United States Constitution, one of the guaranteed freedoms is that of religion. In turn, peoples cannot be put in positions that conflict with their religions, such as holidays and careers. By doing this, the government is getting involved with religion. It may not be by faith or a targeted delegation, but it is there. The Constitution also emphasizes the separation between church and state, which translates to the government cannot be influenced by a religion. This, however, is only in official terms as many representatives have claimed that their actions and policies are inspired by their commitment to their religion. You then have opposite sides of this ideology. In countries run by their religion, such as the tolalitarian Iran, this has been showed to have devastating conquests in wake of terrorism and war. However, on the other side of the coin, you have Communist China. In China, socially religion has been influenced by communism and as of 2015, ninety percent of the Chinese persons identify as atheist. While there may not be the life-threatening consequences, you can point to the peer pressure of politics. So no, it is not possible to keep religion and politics separate as long as those two both exist. It is crucial to keep them co-existing but not in a way that puts ideology in danger. As Time magazine puts it, “In other words, the church should not rule over the state, and the state cannot rule over the church.”
James Lankford, Russell Moore. “Why We Should Debate Religion and Politics More, Not Less.” Time, Time, 16 Jan. 2018, time.com/5103677/church-state-separation-religious-freedom/.
210000036. “Religion in China, Religious Beliefs in China.” ChinaHighlights, 13 Sept. 2018, www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/religion.html
I agree that it is very hard to keep religion and politics separate. This is simply because many people base their political values on their religion. They do what they believe is correct in terms of their religion. Although this is fine there are people who take radical stances on issues where religion should not play a part. As a christian, I am able to separate the two and I do not let these supposed religious ideals interfere with human rights. In the bible, in the book of John, it is seen that Jesus had the intent for separation of church and state when he tells his disciples " Render onto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render to God what is God's". People who follow a religious teaching should follow the laws and keep their religion separate.
DeleteSharma, Rhia. “Should Politics and Religion Be Kept Separate?” E-International Relations, 2012, www.e-ir.info/2012/06/14/should-politics-and-religion-be-kept-separate/.
I also agree that religion and politics should be kept separate. I think that quote that you found from the bible is really cool Jessica. It makes me wonder if other religions have passages within them that also seem to support the separation of church and state. I think that sometimes laws around religious freedom and laws of the state can confuse people. I am also Christian and feel that they should be kept separate. There are so many religions in this world and if we were to let a single religion have more influence over state proceedings, it could cause major strife among other religions and between groups of people.
Deletehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-traphagan/keeping-church-and-state_b_8903266.html
With keeping religion and politics separate . It well help keep turmoil between individuals who believe in a different religion but have the same political values down . Because if not this could cause serious issues that could cause conflict between groups of people that are very close to one another .
DeleteQuestion 2. Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteFundamentally, a religion seeks to offer a set of guidelines and beliefs for how its members (and nonmembers) should behave, interact, live, etc. It is ideological in nature, as it intends to affect people and sway their opinion of things which necessarily lend themselves to becoming political objects, such as international relations, the state of welfare, the role of money in the market, etc. One can find countless examples of the clash between the wishes of the Catholic church and various empires throughout the history of Medieval Europe.
Within the context of the class, an ideology is defined in terms of politics, being "a theory about political relationships and the role of the state." As such, it is quite easy to make the connection between religion, an ideology, and politics, about which ideologies can be said to revolve.
Of course, Thomas Jefferson is famous for having declared the necessity of the separation between church and state. This, however, was intended to mean that the state should bear no bias toward or against any religion. Perhaps even he knew that to hope to keep the church out of the business of the state was a fruitless effort, since long before his life and and since long after his death.
Though the question is not "Are religion and politics separate?" nor is it "Could religion and politics be separate?", but "Should religion and politics be kept separate?" and while there are certainly many entertaining arguments both for and against this notion, I will defer to the second half of the question, "or is that impossible?" and say that it is impossible, and as such not worth considering.
Jefferson, Thomas. "Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists." Library of Congress. Loc.gov. https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html
Kate R. "Monarchs Vs. The Papacy." Medieval Christianity. http://uo-medievalchristianity.weebly.com/blog/monarchs-vs-the-papacy.
I agree that it is indeed impossible to keep religion and politics separate. As human beings, we are prone (and entitled) to our own beliefs, religious or not. Our morality is shaped BY our beliefs (religious or not). But, more often, our beliefs are affiliated with one or multiple religions. To more broadly encompass this idea: we cannot separate our public self from our private self (Ashford). Indeed, this is true in most - if not ALL - cases. We're prone to giving our opinions based off of our beliefs, which are shaped by multiple factors--including religion.
DeleteAshford, Bruce. "Two Reasons Why Religion and Politics Cannot Be Separated." Billy Graham: Evangelistic Association. https://billygraham.org/story/two-reasons-why-religion-and-politics-cannot-be-separated/. 17 May 2016. Web. 1 Feb 2019.
Should religion and politics be kept strictly separate, or is that impossible?
ReplyDeleteThe concept of detaching religion from politics should be upheld, and technically it is if you consider that churches don't pay taxes. But where I see crossovers are evangelical candidates, funded by religious organizations, implementing policies and legislation that are in line with their ideologies. Such as banning LBGTQ people from bathrooms of choice, banning them from the military, banning abortions under any circumstance, etc. A lot of these policies actually remove the autonomy from the citizens who are subject to them. Policies extremely conservative states like Texas do not reflect the majority of the citizens there, and often receive more funding for conservative policy reform, from religious groups specifically. some Conservative Christians feel a "duty to be involved in government" but do not recognize how harmful that is, pushing their ideologies on everyone, and is kind of terrible, to be able to have such a one-track mind, 'my way or the high way' to the degree of removing freedoms from others simply because you don't agree with them. Christianity justified colonialism, slavery, the genocide on the native Americans, because these men felt that they were above the laws of humanity. Religion has just created and justified countless atrocities throughout history, and those same justifications should not be upheld in modern day. I never understood why people needed religion to understand the world, or why they needed other peoples stories to help guide them, to do whatever modern religion does. I believe in a greater purpose, and i believe working for each other should be expectation. If we taxed churches, our country would see an additional $83.5 billion. But then again, as the governments budget looks now, with too many areas of our country in need of infrastructure, we cannot even trust our government to take care of us. A small, predominately black town in Alabama is suffering from a mass infestation of hookworm because of sewage, feces, and hazardous conditions from a government mandated sewage plant. Water pipes in flint michigan are STILL dangerous. Red tide off the coast off florida caused by the sugar industries that are regulated by government, numerous towns and cities with contaminated tap water with chemicals, greensboro being in trouble with the EPA 4 times last year alone. In addition to just issues with where our governments money should be going, the issue should be raised- How much would be added to US economy annually if the richest and the churches were taxed fairly?
3. Why is Marxist theory called utopia?
ReplyDeleteUtopia is defined as a place of absolute ideal state of perfect economic and political circumstances. The way of life in which nothing could possibly be better. Marxist theory is considered such because it is a ideological perception of what Karl Marx thought life should be, but it does not exist nor is there a reasonable way to make such a way of life exist. Karl Marx was a philosopher and political ideologist, not an active politician. He never tried to put this theory into practice, he was a political theorist and would come up with different political ideas that he thought would make society more equal in nature. His view was quite radical of how a society could obtain this communist utopia by an uprising of the working class to fight back against long standing traditional economic status of powerful and working class. This theory includes a revolution to reach this economic equality by destroying a capitalist economy.
Because this ideology relies on such drastic measures and would be very difficult to obtain, Marxist theory is considered a utopian idea. It is the idea that a very prosperous and equal future is possible and would be beneficial to everyone and not just a select few, this idea is called utopia.
Sodaro, J. Michael et al., Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2001), ch. 13.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/vision_of_communism.php
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/utopia
I agree with your approach, and think there is an equally valid approach to criticisms of Marxism as a utopia: Marxism relies very heavily on the idea that people will always work for the good of the cause rather than for themselves without fault. If people were ultimately good, then they would comply to the ideas laid out by Marxism, but because people are not ultimately good, they will seek out methods of action that will result in their benefit, even at the expense of others. Within the context of Communism, this most often occurs in the government, where those in control of the money have no one to stop them if they divvy up the money disproportionately. As the pigs said, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
DeleteIn addition to being faiths, are all religions political ideologies
ReplyDeleteI believe that religions could be political ideologies. Political ideologies are the sets of beliefs that people follow and govern how they make political choices. This is very similar to what one’s faith does. People make political choices that are in line with their faiths. On top of that there are groups that use their faith as a way of political governance. However, there are always people who believe that their faith is just that a faith and they do not use their faith as a way of taking political action but rather for personal devotion. Most people are able to seperate the two. Religion is able to be taken in the other direction and used as a means of political ideology and when this happens it is often violating human rights. People use their religion to turn humans into objects rather than seeing them as subjects and therefore they are taking away their rights. So faiths could be political ideologies but they shouldn't be
“Faith, Ideology, and Politics.” Ashbrook, ashbrook.org/publications/oped-forte-03-faith/.
DeleteI agree, while many governments try to construct themselves separate from religion, it is often ineffective. In the United States, for example, we try to keep church and state apart, yet by getting involoved in the relgious freedoms and rights, we are putting the two together. In other societies and regimes, both past and present, this has proven to be more dangerous. In middle eastern countries, religious terrorist groups have worked towards domination of weak and fragile governments. In the past, such as the migration to the english colonies in America, people fled to escape religious persecuation. During the Cold War, "under God" was added to the pledge of allegance in order to be a constrast to anti-religion Soviet Union. Religion in turn, becomes a political ideology.
DeleteJames Lankford, Russell Moore. “Why We Should Debate Religion and Politics More, Not Less.” Time, Time, 16 Jan. 2018, time.com/5103677/church-state-separation-religious-freedom/.
Question #1: In addition to being faiths, are all religions political ideologies?
ReplyDeleteI do believe that all religions can also be political ideologies. This is mostly in the sense that religion and ideology have many things in common such as, their beliefs surrounding the inherent nature of human beings, providing explanations for understanding the world we live in and how to deal with it, as well as being able to reference various written works and influential figures. However, I do believe that just as some political ideologies can go over board and do more harm than good, I believe the same to be true for religious ideologies as well. There are many examples of people misusing religion in ways that benefit them and in turn, there are also many ways in which people have misused political ideologies. I believe that because of these misuses, many religions as well as political ideologies also face misjudgment because they have been used in ways that do not align with their original purpose and intent. An example of this for religion is Christianity. The Crusades were said to be fought for Christianity, but the Crusades also resulted in the mass killings of many people. An example of this same issue for political ideologies is socialism. Often times, when politicians show even the smallest amounts of support for things like equality and fairness, they’re often swiftly met with ridicule just because they tend to focus on remembering countries that embraced both socialism and communism such as Cuba, North Korea, and Russia (countries that are often viewed in a negative light) rather than solely focusing on socialism as its own ideology.
“Chapter 3: Nations and Society.” Essentials of Comparative Politics, by Patrick H. O'Neil, 5th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2015, pp. 88.