Religion- Why is it so Political? - Towards an empirical view.

Abstract

The incorporation of empirical science is a necessary and welcome development in the social sciences. The fields of Psychology and Social psychology has become very important to Economics. It has made inroads into Political Science too. Religion, and its potent power to influence politics has long mystified experts in the field. An empirical enquiry can be quite useful.

The roots of religion seem to be rooted in the ‘Mystical Experience’- a well-studied phenomenon in Psychology. As humans progressed from tribes to super-tribes to groups comprising of millions of individuals, religions seem to have evolved a political superstructure that is very powerful in ensuring human group cooperation and extreme altruism. But the way in which it developed, makes it a recipe capable of generating conflict with other groups of humans.

The secularization process that led to the development of liberal democratic political structures aimed to deliberately suppress this factor to enable people of different religions to coexist together. But religions, with its long and ancient hold on humans are inherently, more powerful. Appreciation of this helps us to understand the political nature of religion and could help policy makers to better design political structures for durability.  We may need to make sure that religious expression is confined to homes and the private sphere, and limit its expression in the official running of the state, for a durable democracy with a liberal structure. It is also worthwhile to encourage more solemnity, legitimacy, and reverence for non-religious structures like the parliament, democratic values, the constitution, and non-partisan rule of law.