Politics is based on the idea of power while religion is based on the idea of faith. Religion and politics are two different and imperative aspects associated with the smooth functioning of a nation. Naturally, as these words are different from each other, and their basis of influences are distinct, they do not have a colluding point in which one is responsible for the other or vice-versa.
What is the role of religion in International Relations? We can very well understand the involvement of religion in International relations from a historical point of view with the help of examples of events such as The Crusades and the Islamic Caliphate. [1]It is important to note that one of the reasons for the policy of Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany was because it was believed that the Jews had killed Jesus Christ. Also, because of this Anti-Semitism policy practised by Nazi leaders of the time, the UN was deliberately putting pressure on nations to boycott the Olympic games in 1936 hosted in Berlin, the capital of Germany. Though, there are some significant examples in the past related to the involvement of religion, a secularization thesis developed in later years which discouraged scholars to look at political problems from a religious point of view. This is because the secularization thesis involved the transformation of a society affiliated with religious values towards non-religious values.
A lot of factors played an important role in the reinforcing and strengthening interest in the relationship between religion and International relations. The ‘Clash of Civilizations,’ a hypothesis written by an American political scientist and ex-director of Harvard’s Centre for International Affairs, Samuel Huntington along with the terrorist attacks on September 2001(9/11) on the United States by an Islamic Terrorist Group(Al Qaeda) are some of these factors which only strengthened the link between religion and politics. The attacks further raised questions on Islam being a religion which proposed and propagated violence. This did affect the global politics as it is said that the aims of the attack are to enlist politically marginalized Islamic Communities in Western Europe in its campaign to achieve a Global Islamic State.
It was pointed out that the fear of Islam was replacing the fear of the USSR in determining foreign policies. The intensity of the study in trying to determine the role of religion in International relations increased due to this fear.
