Abe F. March

How much are we affected by the influence of Politics and Religion?

Politics:  If one is a registered Republican, can that person look at a Democratic candidate for President on his/her merits alone or does the party affiliation influence the decision?  How can one shed the stigma of a party affiliation when evaluating a person?s capabilities and their stated plans for the presidency?

Religion:  If one is a Christian, can that person look at a non-Christian without prejudice?  Even within the Christian family of doctrines there is friction.  Whether one is Catholic, Mormon, Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, a born-again fundamentalist or other sect, there if often animosity.  But when it comes to the three Revealed religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity, the stigma is magnified as it has been for thousands of years. 

Is there much different today?  Do we identify a people by their country of origin or by their religion?  Although there are countries where one form of religion dominates, to my knowledge there are no countries that are exclusive with one religion.  America is proclaimed to be a ?Christian? nation, but are Americans referred to as Christians?  Why do we call people from Israel, Jews?  Why do we refer to people of other Middle East countries as Muslims?  Must religion continue to influence our attitudes?  Is it any wonder why many people despise religion and refuse to be affiliated with any religious sect?  

We are in the midst of another election.  Can anyone say that religion doesn?t play a role?  We are close to getting over the barriers of sex and race, how long will it take to get over the barriers of religion?