How do religious beliefs affect politics?

Religion is one of the aspects of life that we were born with. It may not be necessarily the one we choose but it can already be considered as a kind of tradition passed down from one generation. Let’s say, the Philippines. It is very characteristic of our country to be a devout Catholic that people who separate from the faith were looked upon with awkwardness. The Church has very wide and powerful branches that its influence can pass through everything in the country. May it be legislature, family planning or prison laws, the Church have something to say about it. And with the people being very devout about their religion, they listen to whatever the Church is saying and they act upon it on a no gray area mentality. I am not saying it is wrong or bad to make and approve certain government decisions that way. I think it just affects how our country develops.

Religious beliefs affect politics in legislature. Law writing is crucial to a country’s future and development. Whatever laws the government officials approve of, it will dictate how things in the country will be processed. There’s a certain trace of politics in legislature in a way that lawmakers will study and pass laws which will be beneficial to them in a future campaign or a potential business deal. Religious beliefs enter the scene in this case. Politicians take into too much consideration and emphasis the certain religious beliefs in the laws they make in able to get the people’s attention on how religious or God-fearing they are. Laws are made to please people through the religion they believe in. Maybe it’s one of the reasons why our country is in such a slow progress. There’s too much B.S. going around.

Let’s say, the implementation of family planning. A lot of politicians are against this bill since they say it does not deliver the religious beliefs they uphold. The importance of life and the possibility of living beings that people stop and hinder when they do family planning are some points. I am personally in support of family planning. I think that it’s better to stop the “possibility” of a child to be conceived as soon as possible. I am not talking of abortion but of the use of contraceptives. I admire the politicians who stand up and support this bill because if you come to think of it, it is one good way to solve population growth. Since poverty is a result of overpopulation, having less mouths to feed might be helpful in decreasing poverty as well. But this is not about whether one law is good or not. It is about considering one law as right just because some religious belief tells it to be so. I think we people should be smarter than that. We should not just absorb whatever is being held out to us by religion. We are not sponges for information. We are given brains to help us think over what may be right to us.

Religion affects politics in a way that politicians become slaves of religious beliefs that they use it not for the sake of faith but for the influence it has on people.