"The Battle between religion and nationality" - My opinions

For centuries in both the Western and non-Western world, I believe religion and politics were intertwined. Priests, monks, pastors,"native doctors" (as they are referred to in some West African communities) were the political leaders of the communities or at least a significant integral part of the political body. However, one thing I believe might have initiated the separation between the two entities is modernization or globalization, for both western and non-western countries.

I believe that once a religious system has been set in place, with beliefs established, practices and rituals enforced and a set of rules or "do's and don't's " introduced, these entities tend to stay timeless, untouched, untainted and sacred. For most religious things, because of the sacred nature of them, they are usually the part of the livelihood of communities that affects every other aspect of the community and more than usual, the religion of a community requires a lot more effort to change, if possible.

The politics of a community, on the other hand, is very dynamic. It can easily, and appropriately so, adapt to the changes in the community, which its governing or to the dynamics of the global system. To keep the community cultured and well equipped for the global market and consequently for revenue, new policies must be adopted and ineffective old methods abandoned.

Therefore, the inherent nature of these two entities, religion as sacred and timeless and politics as dynamic and modern, makes it quite difficult to maintain the two in one community. As rightly stated in the above reference blog post, "it's obvious that a good balance between the two would allow you to immerse yourself spiritually while also assimilating to the nation you live in" (Wilson, 2014). I believe its better to share similar national values with people in the secular settings, however, if the national values are woven with strands of an overarching religion, such as what Japan has, then there becomes more coercion to conform to the "national religion" instead of exercising your personal beliefs (Ivy, 1995).

In instances where there is more politics than religion, I would assume that people become very ambitious and competitive consequently,  morales behind certain actions and values gradually degrades. However, in some communities where "religion/culture" holds more power, religion and its sacredness thereof becomes heightened so much that superstition overrides rationale.

Optimally, keeping religion and politics/nationality separate from each other works. The freedom to express ones religion in a secular settings should be allowed but weaving a generic national religion in the secular political system, creates a hybrid culture of the two that can experience a lot of tension and conflicts.