Nations and Religions
Society needs order and rules so that citizens can live peacefully.
The order and rules must be deeply rooted in tradition and customs so that they can be respected and observed by citizens, since they respect tradition and customs. And in any society people love and respect their ancestors with some exceptions. Therefore society can be stable when it is governed and managed based on common religion in it.
But it will be a little difficult if a nation includes members of different religions with larger shares. Even in an Islamic nation, difference in schools of the religion causes grave internal conflicts covertly or overtly.
Conversely, strong nations inevitably have one strong religion prevailing among their peoples. Or, when people of a nation shares one common strong religion, the nation can grow strong and develop rich.
In this context, the Great British Empire was possible mostly because of its religion separated from the Vatican. Germany became strong when Germans believed ideology of Hitler, though they mistook it. The Soviet Union was strong when Russians and their close neighbors believed in communism, though they misunderstood it. China today is trying to be strong based on belief of its people in dominance of the Chinese Communist Party, though it has long introduced capitalistic economic policies.
In this context, the key to success and prosperity of the US is its people's belief in the American Dream based on belief in Christianity separated from the Vatican and even the Church of England while absorbing part of Judaism. Therefore the President of the US should be a person who the best symbolizes the American Dream of each era. But whoever is elected as president, his personality is expected to be deeply concerned with the underlying religious paradigm of the US.
From this point of view, JFK was a difficult president as Kennedy was Catholic. In fact, his administration ended with the tragic assassination of him. And, Nixon looked not so religious too much, and accordingly he was strongly despised by his opponents. In fact, Nixon was forced to step down in the middle of his second term.
No matter American voters are Democratic or Republican, they believe in the American value system that supports the American Dream. And the root of the American value system is a notion that to keep the American society in peace and safety, they need faith in God of Christianity or Judaism. So, American voters are secretly but intently checking how faithful in God or religion Presidential candidates are. Their judgment on how much they can trust candidates mostly depends on this point. Put simply, they want a President who is faithful as much as they are in God or religion so as to trust him or her in the White House.
As for Japan, the unity of its people is still largely ascribed to existence of the Imperial Family. The Emperor of Japan is a symbol at least of Japan's 2000 year long history and tradition, including shintoism. All the Japanese would think that their ancestors respected emperors for almost 2000 years or 1500 years as written history tells.
However this function of the emperor and the imperial family of Japan does not exclude people's acceptance of the concept of God as the sole creator of the universe.
Anyway, a nation without religion or ideology is impossible in the human world. In this context, the more study in religions and ideologies should be needed for people today living in the era of the global politics.
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Mar 1:23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
Mar 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.