The Seat of the Universal House of Justice, Haifa, Israel

Religion, politics and power

Welcome to a new series of occasional posts on the theme of religion, politics and power. Religion is becoming ever more prominent for good and ill in the public square. Questions about the relationship of religion, politics and power are increasingly important and demand answers. The Bahá’í sacred texts and commentaries have some interesting insights into these questions.

Ridván and Bahá’í elections

The Ridván season in the Bahá’í calendar prompts some thoughts about politics and religion.

Why? Well this is the time of year when Bahá’ís across the world elect their local and national governing councils. And this year is a special one. In less than a week’s time, members of the world’s National Spiritual Assemblies (the national governing councils) will converge on the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel, to take part in electing the Universal House of Justice, the Bahá’í community’s international council.

Religion and identity politics

Religion is becoming ever more salient as a marker of identity. At the same time, we live in an era of identity politics, a time when people campaign and vote on the basis of presumed group identities and interests. Congruence of identity based on ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, gender and so on, is seen as more important than ideas or policies. And more important than personal qualities, such as integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, capacity to contribute effectively to parliament and government.

To put it crudely, people vote for a candidate because he or she is one of “us” and not one of “them”. At its worst, identity politics can descend into an exclusivist politics of the tribe. The needs of humankind as a whole are then ignored in favour of the sectional interests of groups. Universalism gives way to particularism.

This paper by Tufyal Choudhury of Durham University (published by the Department of Communities and Local Government in April 2007) has some interesting findings about the function of identity politics for Muslims.

Does religion have any place in a secular democracy?

This interview in New Statesman with Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham shows that evangelical Christians also have some strong things to say in the political realm:

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