Of politics and religion ‘The God Is In It’ slogan

-By Maximilian Lion

 

Conventional wisdom provides that politics is an ideas driven realm. It’s about how humans manage their affairs and control their destiny.

 

Essentially, what separates countries is vision, skills, innovation and creativity.

 

Religion can be a great source of strength for many people but it does not amount to possessing the requisite vision, skill, innovation and creativity. It does not make someone competent on its own.

 

Politics is a result driven environment. We judge if leaders are doing well by their results. That is how we differentiate competent leaders from incompetent leaders.

 

@nelsonchamisa, the recently resigned leader of the opposition is under fire for his political slogan “God Is in it” which implies God is in his politics.

 

If he had produced the goods, or conducted his politics effectively, many people would not care. His critics are of the view that he is hiding behind religion to mask his shortcomings and failure.

 

In matters that require concrete policies and clarity of thought, Chamisa tells his followers that “God is in it”. Even non members see this approach as unacceptable.

 

People don’t have a problem with religion but they have a problem with how Chamisa is still weaponising religion even after resigning.

 

Mixing politics and religion is quite controversial and has been done by leaders with hidden agendas. Napoleon comes to mind. He said if he were a leader of the Jewish people, he would rebuild the Temple of Solomon.

 

Napoleon was of the view that religious people were easy to control.

 

He did not want a repeat of the 1789 revolution under his leadership. We can deduce from this that Napoleon wanted people to approach him the way they approached their God. That meant humility, well behaved and less trouble for him.

 

Chamisa started a political party that resembled a theocracy. He was the only leader and there were no structures.

 

He wrote a dodgy document giving himself all the powers. The operation looked like a fusion of theocracy and tyranny.

 

This proves that politics and religion cannot mix if they cannot be managed expertly. Chamisa’s politics looked chaotic.

 

While many advocate for conventional politics based on ideas, there are examples of religious leaders who preached against contaminating their religion with questionable doctrines.

 

A prophet once advised to stay away from those who have a form of goodliness with no power. We can infer that there must have been people who were not following religion in the expected manner.

 

The same is true in politics. Chamisa has a form of politics which is ineffective. It is devoid of ideas. What he has done, has offended many people who had hope in him. People who thought he would bring the needed transformation. Ideologically, Chamisa is standing in a no man’s zone.

 

It would be interesting to know what Chamisa’s God thinks of all this. His disastrous leadership does not help his religion at all. It comes across as not serious, mockery and an insult to those who follow him.

 

His political currency has been wasted and lost on gimmicks. All the hope and expectations that people had are gone.

 

Maybe he never had what it takes. When given the platform to do the job, he capitulated.

*About the writer: Maximilian Lion is a Financial Law & Corporate Governance, Modern Statecraft expert