Free Paper Example on Religion

Introduction

Religion refers to a systematized assortment of philosophies, cultural structures, and world opinions that link humans to an existing system. Most religions worldwide have accounts, cyphers, and sanctified histories to elucidate the connotation of life and describe the origin of life and world. Colonialism involves the strategy on a nation pursuing to expand or retain its reign over other individuals or regions, with the intention of economic supremacy. During colonization, the invaders may enforce their cultural, economic, and religious practices on native people (Lincoln, 2010). Nationalism refers to the theory and crusade that supports a specific country's interests or a crowd of persons to safeguard its motherland's self-governance.

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For decades, religion has influenced political, economic, and social structures in societies across the globe. This paper intends to relate religion and colonialism by examining the article 'Religion and Empire' by evaluating the influence of the Achaemenian Empire through the employment of faith as the driving tool (Lincoln, 2010). Furthermore, this paper's purpose involves assessing religion and nationalism by investigating the articles' The Moral State: Religion, Nation, and Empire' and 'The Gendered Imagery and Women's Leadership of Hindu Nationalism,' among other works. This paper will highlight how religion gets deployed to support or enable colonialism and modern nationalism through a critical analysis of these articles.

Religion and Colonization

As the Achaemenian Empire expanded, the king's workers created a palace with an atmosphere of harmony, serenity, recreation, and wellness. Such aspects defined the empire's model through which its entire resonances, nuances, fantasies, connotations, and desires grew worldwide (Lincoln, 2010). The fascinating appearance has the same semblance to the Persian Kingdom under the rule of Cyrus and Darius the Great. However, any subject within this magnificent empire who offends the king or commits an offense underwent gruesome torture.

The narration highlights the relationship between religion and realm in which a charismatic or dynastic character effectively uses nobilities of faith to establish a legitimate sphere of royal suppression, exploitation, and domination. Since time immemorial, rulers have employed a religious idea to retain and exercise power on other people and nations that sometimes leads to extremity, malicious, unmanageable, and offensive (Lincoln, 2010). When such power reaches these limits, it leads to colonization of the people and the minds through religion as an ingredient. A sovereign state consists of individuals with the notion of race, ethnicity, language, and religion. In the article on 'Imperial Encounters,' the author highlights the 1988 incident in which the British Muslims implored their government to bar Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses.'

However, there existed no legislation banning abuses to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) (Van der Veer, 2001). The events portray the influence of Christianity in encouraging the colonization of the British. Besides, Christianity contributed considerably in defining the history of the British Empire. Christianity introduced missionary work across the globe that led to Christians believing that when Muslims, Hindus, Africans did not receive salvation, they would end up in hell. However, the idea only led to colonization, exploitation, and slavery (Van der Veer, 2001). 'Imperial Encounter' article highlights efforts made by evangelicals for the East India Company Government.

The Company allowed missionaries to operate within the country and abandon providing support to native establishments and Hindu temples and anniversaries after forming a committee in London, England (Van der Veer, 2001). The committees helped in consolidating the public domain for both the Muslims and Hindus (AbuLughod, 2002). The committees represented a new form of colonial policies of representation that substituted the initial benefaction systems that the Company had involved in to advance its agenda of trade. Utilitarian authority and evangelicals settled that India's religious establishments had to get banned and substituted by Christian evolution.

Religion and Modern Nationalism

Nationalism can get equated to the faith of contemporary society. Religion seems to exist as one of the facets of the disciplinary process that the present civil object gets generated, including literature, language, race, and civilization symbolizes the national personality. During the 19th century signaled the nationalization of religion, such as Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism (Van der Veer, 2001). The authors of the articles argued that religion plays a significant role in defining personal conscience, shaping civilized behavior, and developing the public scope.

Hindu nationalism supported the rise of numerous famous women leaders. Three powerful women politicians in the Hindu nation that includes Bharati, Scindia, and Rithambara, may instigate extraordinary confidence in that they seem to have acquired their political clout through their religious devotion (Basu, 1996). Hinduism supports refutation, which empowers and liberates women as it permits a unique occasion for evading control by husbands, parents, and in-laws and gives women a place of moral supremacy. Through iconic prominence, the examples of these women politicians profoundly related in Hinduism with theories of purity, spirituality, and other non-worldliness characters make these personalities dependable speakers for the prospective Hindu nation (Basu, 1996).

Some articles argue about women's roles, politics, and the influence on religion on their freedom. Western countries believe Muslim women remain under oppression and tries to transform them, a philosophy that some anthropologists suggest entails colonization of a people's culture (AbuLughod, 2002). Such campaigns always draw in activism and movements with opposing sides arguing differently. Muslims say that their women's dress code signifies a form of providing women with the freedom to travel while still maintaining the primary moral rule of avoiding and safeguarding them from unrelated men.

Conclusion

From the arguments drawn from the articles analyzed, religion plays a critical role in shaping a people's present and future and that of a territory. History has established that colonization began by introducing faith. Missionaries, rulers, and their soldiers enforced religion into indigenous people with the primary objective of exploiting and expanding their territories. As such, religion became a tool for introducing colonization with the pretext of providing civilization by dismantling the native language, cultural, and religious practices. Presently, religion is employed in activism and movements to achieve a political agenda that the enlightened call modern nationalism.

References

AbuLughod, L. (2002). Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 783-790. www.anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/aa.2002.104.3.783

Basu, A. (1996). The gendered imagery and women's leadership of Hindu nationalism. Reproductive Health Matters, 4(8), 70-76.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1016/S0968-8080(96)90303-1

Lincoln, B. (2010). Religion, empire, and torture: The case of Achaemenian Persia, with a postscript on Abu Ghraib. University of Chicago Press.
www.books.google.com/books

Van der Veer, P. (2001). Imperial encounters: Religion and modernity in India and Britain. Princeton University Press. www.books.google.com/books.