RELIGION, POLITICS, AND THE STATE: OBSERVATIONS OF A COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGIST

While religion can be a source of legitimacy for politicians, it can turn into a restraint in the process of state administration. Four possible situations emerge from the intersection of religion and the state: religious politics with a religious state, secular politics in a secular state, secular politics with a religious state, and religious politics in a secular state. A religious state with religious politicsis often the most violent and should cause statesmen to seek alternatives. A secularstate with secular politics runs the risk of cultural sterility and vacuity. Some combination of the secular and religious is necessary to avoid these two poles.