Religion's Role in Politics

Religion in Politics December 09 2007
Article: http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2007/12/06/religion-in-politics/

Summary:
Recently, the U.S presidency candidate, Mitt Romney, has announced upon the subject of how his Mormon faith will inflence his presidency. However, he is not the only one who has brought religion into politics. In the past, famous politicians such as Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, John McCain, Barack Obama, Fred Thomson, Hillary Clinton, and Rudy Giuliani. These people have been affected by religion somehow and it has now become the main topic of the present days with Mitt Romney.

My Thought:
After reading the article, I have realized that religion is an influential factor of politics. According to Wikipedia, religion "is a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people. Also, politics is defined as "the process by which groups of people make decisions." In these two definitions, there is a common term, "group of people". Hence, there is a similar relationship between these two factors. This similar relationship, in my opinion, is that people often make decisions based on their common beliefs and practices.
However, I believe this relationship between these two factors will ignite more problems. As a historical fact, the sole factor that has brought the most bloody event is the religion. Jews have been suffered through Holocaust due to their religion. Also, the war between Pakistan and Israel continues because of different beliefs in religions. Hence, ironically, religion has been an agent, which ignited many problems. Hence, I believe if religion is considered as a important factor in politics, then this will also bring more problems. People will support a candidate who holds same belief as them, which will take them away from making a reasonable decision because they should pick a candidate who should run the government, not the religious group. In the case of present world, Mr. Romney should not go into a religious path. This may help him to earn more votes, but I dont think it is a right thing to do because religion is just a personal belief that one should keep it to themselves. Therefore, I believe religion should not act as a key factor in the politics because it will certainly lead to greater problems in the future.

North Korea VS South Korea

S. Korean Freight Trains to Begin Daily Service to North Within Weeks

December 08 2007

Article: http://voanews.com/english/2007-11-22-voa7.cfm

Summary:
Recently, South and North Korea have agreed on starting freight trains between the South Korean border town of Munsan and Bongdong in the North. Until this event occurred, these two countries were under 1953 armistice, which means that they were technically at war. However, as the years passed by, their relationship got better and better. South Korea had spent billions of dollars to improve this relationship, plus investment in economic projects to recover North Korea’s conditions. Hence, this train project marked a great success for both countries.

Analyze:
I agree that this train project is a huge success for both countries. After the war 1953, they have tried their best in order to improve their relationships. Because North Korea was in catastrophic conditions due to 1990’s famine, South Korea came to help their neighbour, despite the fact that they were enemies. Hence, Korea has spent billions of dollars to help their relative. They have sent household items, food, money, and volunteers in order to provide as much support as possible. Because of such generous donations, many people in South Korea believed that North and South Korea will unite one day and this train project is the first step towards the unification. However, I believe this unification will not do any good, hence, I don’t think South Korea should help North Korea.

Many people claim that the unification will bring benefits to both countries. Yes, there will be more natural resources and workers. Also, people in these two countries will live under peace not the fear of war. However, I believe there are more drawbacks than the benefits. Foremost, unification will not happen in a short period of time, which means that South Korea should spent more money and time towards North Korea. South Korean government has been criticized for spending too much money on their neighbour, while North Korean government has not returned anything good towards South Korean government. In order for two parties to develop, there should be give and take relationship, but in this case, I don’t see any gain for South Koreans. Also, “if” these countries unite, there will be more serious problems that will occur. Because South Korea and North Korea have lived under different political ideologies and culture, it will take extra period of time for them to adjust to a novel environment. I cannot anticipate how these two countries will combine communistic and democratic ideologies. Thus, this combination would not work out thoroughly, and I believe it is better for these two countries to live independently. Lastly, I believe if South Korea spends the money towards North Korea for themselves, they will see much more development and this development will certainly broaden the gap between the North and South Korea. If North Korea sees the South Korea’s development, then I believe they will eventually join South Korea and live under South Korea’s control. Therefore, I believe South Korea should be independent and work for their benefit.