Religious rejection of politics

Religious rejection of politics is a philosophy that can be found in a life of contemplation of nature. Adherents to this way of life find it preferable, while some ascetic schools of Hinduism or Buddhism also reject political involvement for different reasons.

## Adherents

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In Christianity, some groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, the Christadelphians, the Amish, the Hutterites, and the Exclusive Brethren reject politics on the grounds: Christ's statements about His kingdom not belonging to this world means that earthly politics can or must be rejected. Not necessarily all forms of politics are rejected. For example, among the Old Order Amish, running for office is not allowed but voting is only discouraged, not forbidden.[1]

Others, like those of the Baháʼí Faith, do not take part in partisan politics. They neither endorse particular candidates, or join political parties. They are told to vote their consciences as individuals. If asked to register they tend to do so as independent.[citation needed]

In other religious systems it can relate to a rejection of nationalism or even the concept of nations. In certain schools of Islamic thinking, nations are a creation of Western imperialism and ultimately all Muslims should be united religiously in the ummah. Therefore, Muslims should be in hijra as nations, in the Western sense, are basically deemed apostate.[citation needed]

There are some aspects of the early days of the radical Takfir wal-Hijra that hint at this. Likewise various Christian denominations reject any involvement in national issues considering it to be a kind of idolatry called statolatry. Most Christians who rejected the idea of nations have associated with the Christian Left. Satmar Hasidic Judaism rejects the state of Israel being created before the return of the Messiah, therefore members of this group refuse to vote in Israel. This group does not reject all politics, but it does reject participation in Israeli politics.[citation needed]

Lastly, some religions do not specifically reject politics per se, but believe existing political systems are so inherently corrupt they must be ignored. In some respects the view of governments as apostate relates to that. In the early stages of the Nation of Islam, for example, many adherents rejected the idea of voting because the US political system was rejected in strong terms. In recent decades, however, this view has declined in popularity among Nation of Islam adherents or been rejected outright.[citation needed] In Hellenism, voting in elections deemed 'non-democratic' is not permitted and namely affects believers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia.[citation needed]

In the United States, a 2006 survey indicated that 2% of those who did not register to vote cited religious reasons.[2] The same survey reported that 22% of voting-age Americans are not registered to vote, meaning that 0.4% of all voting-age Americans did not register to vote for religious reasons.[2]

## Religious groups that reject participation in politics

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See also: Political quietism in Islam

Religion | Adherents | Largest national
membership

|
|

Jehovah's Witnesses | 8,200,000 | United States
Baháʼí Faith | 6,000,000 | India
Rastafarians | 600,000 | Jamaica
Old Order Amish | 318,000 | United States
Hellenism | 120,000 | Greece
Shaykhiya | 100,000 | Iraq
Christadelphians | 50,000 | Australia
Exclusive Brethren | 40,000 | Australia
Doukhobors | 3,000 | Canada
Purist Salafis | — | Saudi Arabia
Tablighi Jamaat | — | India
Nurcu | — | Turkey

## See also

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* Anti-democracy
* Apoliticism
* Political alienation
* Political apathy
* Religion in politics

## References

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1. ^ Kraybill, Donald B.; Johnson-Weiner, Karen M.; Nolt, Steven M. (2013). The Amish. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 361–362. ISBN 978-1-4214-0914-6. Retrieved 2018-08-10 - via Google Books.
2. ^ a b Morin, Richard, ed. (2006-10-18). Who Votes, Who Doesn't, and Why (PDF). Pew Research Center and Associated Press (Report). Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2020-10-16.

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Religion in politics

General concepts

* Anti-clericalism
* Anti-clericalism and Freemasonry
* Caesaropapism
* Civil religion
* Clericalism
* Clerical fascism
* Confessionalism
* Constitutional references to God
* Divine rule
* Engaged Spirituality
* Feminist theology
* Thealogy
* Womanist theology
* Freedom of religion
* Humanism
* Identity politics
* Organized secularism
* Political religion
* Religious anarchism
* Religious anti-Masonry
* Religious anti-Zionism
* Religious communism
* Religious humanism
* Religious law
* Religious nationalism
* Religious pacifism
* Religion and peacebuilding
* Religious police
* Religious rejection of politics
* Religious segregation
* Religious separatism
* Religious socialism
* Religious views on same-sex marriage
* Secular humanism
* Secular liberalism
* Secular state
* Secularism
* Secularity
* Secularization
* Secular religion
* Separation of church and state
* Spiritual left
* State atheism
* State religion
* Theocracy
* Theonomy

Christianity and politics

* Blaine Amendment
* Christian anarchism
* Christian anti-communism
* Christian anti-Masonry
* Papal ban
* Christian anti-Zionism
* Christian communism
* Christian corporatism
* Christian democracy
* Christian egalitarianism
* Christian environmentalism
* Evangelical environmentalism
* Christian fascism
* German Christians (movement)
* National Catholicism
* Positive Christianity
* Protestant Reich Church
* Christian feminism
* Mormon feminism
* Christian humanism
* Christian law
* Christian left
* Evangelical left
* Christian libertarianism
* Christian nationalism
* Christian pacifism
* Christian peacemaking
* Christian reconstructionism
* Christian republic
* Christian right
* Christian socialism
* In Utah
* Christian state
* Christian Zionism
* Cisalpinism
* Dominion Theology
* Febronianism
* Gallicanism
* Liberation theology
* Maronite politics
* Phoenicianism
* Papal state
* Pillarisation
* Political Catholicism
* Relations between the Catholic Church and the state
* In Argentina
* Sphere sovereignty
* Subsidiarity
* Temporal power
* Theodemocracy
* Ultramontanism
* Neo-ultramontanism

Islam and politics

* Hui pan-nationalism
* Human Rights in Islam
* Imamate
* Islamic anarchism
* Islamic anti-Masonry
* Islamic anti-Zionism
* Islamic democracy
* Islamic fascism
* Islamic feminism
* Sharia law
* by country
* In Pakistan
* In South Asia
* Islamic pacifism
* Islamic republic
* Islamic socialism
* Islamic state
* Islamic Zionism
* Islamism
* Criticism
* Islamization
* Khilafat
* Petro-Islam
* Political quietism
* Taliban
* Talibanization
* Two-nation theory

Judaism and politics

* Halachic state
* Jewish anarchism
* Jewish anti-Zionism
* Haredim
* Jewish Autonomism
* Jewish democracy
* Jewish fascism
* Kahanism
* Revisionist Maximalism
* Jewish feminism
* Jewish law
* Jewish left
* Jewish pacifism
* Jewish political movements
* Jewish right
* Jewish secularism
* Jewish socialism
* Bundism
* Poale Zion
* Zionism
* Religious
* World Agudath Israel

Hinduism and politics

* Akhand Bharat
* Hindu feminism
* Gandhism
* Hindu law
* Hindu modernism
* Hindu nationalism
* Hindutva
* Hindu Rashtra
* Panun Kashmir
* Bangabhumi
* Hindu revolution
* Hindu revivalism
* Hindu environmentalism
* Integral humanism
* Indigenous Aryans
* Rama Rajya
* Saffronisation
* Shuddhi
* Uniform civil code

Buddhism and politics

* Buddhist anti-communism
* Buddhist feminism
* Buddhist law
* Buddhist modernism
* Buddhist nationalism
* 969 Movement
* Nichirenism
* Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism
* Buddhist socialism
* Engaged Buddhism
* Humanistic Buddhism
* Secular Buddhism

Other

* American civil religion
* Disestablishmentarianism
* Imperial cult
* Ancient Rome
* Gottgläubig
* Khalistan movement
* Neopaganist feminism
* Religious aspects of Nazism
* Creativity (religion)
* Cult of personality
* State Shinto

## External links

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* Radical Rejection of Politics

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