Political Science 1020E
Professor Nigmendra Narain
Term 1 Essay: What role should religion play in government policies?

By Nivedita Sen Student Number: 250589199 Section – LEC 575 In today’s world, religion plays a profound part in many people’s lives and they find it important to firmly follow the guiding principles of a religion. Religion has been
When religion is mixed with state, the outcome is societal norms created on the basis of religious beliefs of the majority religion and laws that are in some way influenced by it. As Nancy N. Rosenblum points, partisan faith may forbid certain practices such as consumption of alcohol, abortion, setting up some foreign policy goals et cetera on the basis of religious reasons.(Rosenblum 21). These norms of behaviour and religiously influenced laws are also imposed upon citizens who do not adhere to the majority religion and take away their freedom of faith. Some minority groups have experienced disadvantages inflicted by the state when they were not exempted from laws that called for conduct which did not agree with their beliefs, or which inflicted additional costs on them for observing their beliefs. They argue that enforcing such laws causes them to be penalized on the basis of their religion and prohibit them from fair membership in the society (Smithey 89). Therefore religion should be kept separate from the state or government. Another issue arising from the interference of religion in government policies is that religious minority groups may face oppression from the religious majority groups, resulting in tension between the two groups. As stated in the