Biblical Religion and Politics
Religion has established beliefs and values that influence the viewpoint of people in a political system, with leaders viewed as possessing the authority to influence decisions not only among their followers but in political matters. Despite the availability of religious scriptures, most followers are ignorant about the true meaning; thus, contributing to superstition where people identify with a particular religion for identity and safety. Similarly, family religious affiliations have been inherited as parents force their children to adopt their beliefs and values without questioning their authenticity, prompting many to be mere churchgoers, accepting all teachings, and believing they are in the right place. Deep religious commitment and free self-determination in comprehending scriptures enhance truth while preventing political manipulation of religion through human constructions and superstition. Lack of scripture knowledge among many people contributes to trusting and believing just anything they hear. Still, by taking a standpoint to read and understand the true meaning of scriptures, one can acquire veracious piety and religion. Religious leaders are more concerned with interpreting the scriptures than understanding them personally and separating their opinions from biblical scriptures; hence, this crowds their projection of true religion, which is pure morality. Moreover, people can only achieve proper reverence if religion does not seek power to mobilize peoples’ religious sensibilities to gain their support instead of teaching sound doctrines of unity and love among all people. This essay will expound on; the integrity of religious beliefs, reverence to God, acceptance of other religions’ perspectives, role of religion in politics, actual biblical scripture teachings, and pure morality as the true religion.
Religion has for a long time shifted its focus on humanitarian good deeds to beliefs that encourage incomprehension of true religion. In the book Nathan the Wise (Lessing 2004), in a letter addressed to his father, he criticizes the stereotyped orthodox by postulating that time will judge a better Christian (xi). Lessing’s viewpoint portrays Christians as meek followers of religious beliefs rather than doers, which prompted him to divert from the usual and begin questioning the beliefs inherited from his parents. Furthermore, a young Knight Templar rescues Recha Nathan’s daughter from fire despite being a stranger and of different religious affiliation (1.1), implying that religion is not about one’s beliefs. He did deeds without expecting any gain. Therefore, Christians ought to follow the true bible scriptures, encouraging them to be doers of the word rather than believers.
Furthermore, in Theological-Political Treatise (Spinoza, 2007) encourages Christians to value deeds rather than beliefs by arguing a supreme being loved justice and charity and that to be saved, all people must obey and venerate him by practicing justice and charity towards their neighbor (14.10). An individual’s good works towards others show the obedience and faith they have in their God, which bears the good fruits in them without having to base their actions on certain beliefs affiliated with their religion. Also, religion has been adorned with pomp and ceremony to impress people to observe it vigorously and with fidelity (pref.6). People’s minds are filled with prejudices that they lack the ability to differentiate between beliefs and good deeds towards others. Indeed, superstitions form the basis of false religion, which is enabled by the human fabrications in the interpretation of the scriptures; therefore, investigating the truths of religions is of paramount importance for Christians.
Deep commitment to religion and its teachings exhibit the reverence Christians should have towards their God. According to Spinoza, superstition is what most people believe in and adore as they lack fear of God due to insufficient knowledge of his nature (pref.5). Religious leaders are usually guided by their selfish desires for power and influence. Therefore, they defy the essential elements needed in reverence of God, such as teaching their constructions thus, leading to false religion. Additionally, Spinoza goes further to argue that “people who are proud to profess the Christian religion, that is (a religion of) love, peace, moderation and goodwill to all men, oppose each other with extraordinary animosity” (pref.9). God is a supreme being, supposed to be respected, and his commandments to men obeyed accordingly. Still, due to a lack of proper knowledge and fear, people do not portray the image of their creator in their day-to-day dealings with others.
Likewise, in the conversation between Recha and Daja about Templar, Recha wonders, “what kind of God is that, which to a man belongs? Who needs a man to fight for him?”(2.1). Recha’s reverence to God elicits her questioning of Daja’s propositions about the nature of God, for he is a supreme being, all-powerful and all-knowing. God doesn’t require a man to fight for him but instead fights on behalf of men in the unseen battles of their lives. Recha goes further to say that ‘the loyalty to God did not depend so absolutely on our fancies of him” (3.1). The loyalty Christians have towards God is a form of reverence to his mighty deeds and the ability to partake in all things that men cannot do for themselves without His indulgence.
In contemporary society, religions stereotype each other by encouraging followers to believe that theirs is the only true religion and the rest worship in vain. This notion has mainly contributed to the wars witnessed around the globe as religion is a significant influence in political matters. For instance, the lay-brother tells Templar, “The patriarch thinks- that Saladin as still the foe of Christ, has gained no right to be your friend,” while Templar responds by wondering if it’s because he won’t prove to be a villain to him (1.5). Though a religious leader, the patriarch judges the Saladin as inferior religiously based on their difference in beliefs. As a result of such false beliefs, leaders take advantage of the uninformed followers to propagate falsehood in teaching their followers the baseless teachings of religious supremacy rather than the correct doctrines, which encourage acceptance of other peoples’ viewpoints.
Correspondingly, Spinoza proposes that what moves one person to devotion provokes another to laughter (pref.12). By this proposition, religion is depicted as being vulnerable to personal criticism, which is uninformed and anchored on the falsehood of religion. If we all worship one God, why would a person consider another inferior in their worship? The answer is simply the trust people have on the stereotyped nature of religion by people who had no fear of God but sought to justify their judgments’. Free-self determination in learning about the different other religions is a solution to easing the never-ending stereotypes associated with each specific religion.
Religion and politics share a common goal to acquire political power and use it to fulfill their agendas. However, Lessing portrays Saladin’s character as generous and accommodating of other religions despite being a Sultan in the discussion between Nathan and the Dervish (1.3). The Saladin becomes broke due to engaging in charitable work, making Sittah his sister to manage the household on her savings (2.2). It’s a rare incident, especially of a Muslim, to value other religions in today’s society where most wars experienced result from Islamic extremists. Politics play a crucial role as many funds are availed to the extremists by the reigning governments to disadvantage the other religious groups through massacres.
Moreover, Nathan is considered wise as after losing his family through the Christian massacre; he doesn’t seek revenge; instead, he adopts Recha, the daughter of his friend Wolf Von Filnek and accepts that as the will of God (xxii). His riches could have helped get allies from the Sultan and sought revenge against the ‘warriors of God,’ but he does an expected deed of accepting the outcome and trusting in God. Such a character is admirable in bridging the gap between religion and politics, where good deeds are valued more than causing harm even to the enemy. Hence, Nathan’s character concludes that wisdom and reverence of God are vital elements in both religious and political matters to ensure the diversity of people’s beliefs doesn’t interfere with their coexistence.
Actual biblical teachings are the driving force needed to ensure deep commitment and free-self determination for religious followers. Spinoza agrees that obedience is a crucial element in understanding the actual biblical teaching in the statement ‘since obedience to God consists solely of the love of our neighbor, it follows that the only knowledge commended in the scripture is that which everyone needs to obey God according to his command”(13.3). Obedience and knowledge of the scriptures eliminate the superstitions accrued from ignorance and thrive due to fears of the unknown future expectations. While it’s good to listen to the religious teachers, it’s also essential to carry out personal studies of the scriptures to understand the true meaning of God’s commandments are and their application in a person’s life. Furthermore, religious leaders’ teachings are crowded with self-interests and power-seeking habits, which divert the actual teachings to hidden manipulations of seeking power.
In addition, Lessing, in his youthful days, began to question the authenticity of the orthodox teachings which his parents followed. In the end, he decided to find his path of truth via investigation to obtain a conviction. He went further to say that Christian religion is not a thing a person can accept from the word of his parents (xi). His point of view is exceptionally fundamental in seeking the truth as investigation gives birth to questions that prompt further desire to uncover a deeper understanding of true religion. Spinoza criticizes the falsehood of biblical teachings by postulating, “what I see in their teaching is nothing more than the speculation of the Aristotelians and Platonists (pref.9). Hence, religions need to revisit the essence of interpreting biblical teaching appropriately such that followers do not believe in claims rather than facts.
Pure morality defines the genuineness of religion in terms of what is considered wrong and right in the Biblical teachings. Lessing believed that religion is pure morality which adds to a good heart and good life (xi). Based on such belief, he develops the character of Nathan and Templar to represent his views of how a person should be guided by true religion. For instance, Templar responds to Nathan’s gratefulness after discovering that he saved Recha from fire by saying, “it’s the Templar’s duty to rush to aid the first- the best-who need he sees” (2.5). It is a virtue like that of the character Templar that most people need to acquire so that the teachings of Jesus on loving one’s neighbor as oneself can be applicable.
Similarly, Lessing depicts Templar as a righteous man who doesn’t conform to pressure in atrocities against other people of different religious backgrounds. When the patriarch sends the Lay-brother to talk him into accepting to act as a spy in Sultan’s palace, he responds by saying no because his righteousness and adoption of true religion do not conform to such an act (1.5). His refusal is in line with the consequences that would accrue from “warriors of God” invading Jerusalem and causing the massacre of innocent souls. Also, the church’s ideals are decayed due to improper leadership, as indicated by the refusal to unite the marriage between Malek and king Richard’s sister (2.1). The union between the two families would have calmed down the differences, but the church, instead of upholding peace as a teaching command, followed human fabrications.
Christians should be allowed to enjoy the liberty of their scripture interpretation and judgment such that their piety or impiety judges their work. While politics are essential in any nation, religious leaders should focus their attention on the spiritual nourishment of the followers by nurturing them on the scriptures’ inherent truths. Pure morality should be the basis of guiding the integrity of religion, reverence of God, respect of other religions, actual teachings, and joyous religious involvement in politics. All people should possess sovereign authority when it comes to religious matters. They may not lose their liberty to their religious leaders who have been known to exploit the vulnerability of their followers from ancient times. False and corrupt religion will continue to manifest in our societies, replacing reasoning and conscience unless people commit themselves deeply to free self-determination to overcome the expropriating nature of followers’ liberty.
Works Cited
Lessing, G.E. Nathan the Wise. Translated, Edited, and with an Introduction by Ronald Schechter. Bedford St-Martins, 2004.
Spinoza, Baruch. Spinoza: Theological-Political Treatise. Edited by Jonathan Israel. Translated by Michael Silverthorne and Jonathan Israel. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
