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Peking University, Nov.3, 2012: Religion, as shown in most researches, is an important factor that can influence politics. However, according to Professor Jeremy Gunn in his speech during the “Faith and Society” panel session of Beijing Forum 2012, there is another form of dynamics between religion and politics. “The religion itself would be undermined,” as Professor Gunn concluded, “if it attempted to influence politics.”

As a scholar studying in freedom of religion and belief and having once worked in the U.S. government, Professor Gunn held a particular view that religion and state should be separated fundamentally in secular countries.

“A secular country,” as Professor Gunn explained in the interview, “is a country that doesn’t make decisions on religious ground. It will not claim the religious authority in its politics. So, by this definition, the U.S., a country with religious traditions, is a secular country though there are many religious issues in its politics.”

“In secular countries, some religious groups might attempt to change the politics in order to attain political power or to promote its own beliefs. But in this process, it might change the religion more than changing the political system.”

There are multiple ways for the state to influence the religion. “It can influence what the religions’ doctrines are, can determine what is permitted and what is not, and can also influence religious groups by allowing them to exist or not exist, or by persecuting religious groups.”

Though Professor Gunn pointed out the influence from politics to religion, there was no demonstration in his speech that explained why this influence was negative, or in other words, why he concluded that the religion would be “undermined” by politics. “Religions should keep its independence,” explained Professor Gunn in the interview, “They have rights to choose where they go or what they should believe without the intervention from politics. They should be prevented from politics. It’s more dangerous to religions.”

At the end of the interview, Professor Gunn also expressed his opinion about prescription to the “ideology crisis”. “Religion is a possible option. But it also could simply be teaching ethic, or values which do not necessarily have to be religion.” Interestingly, that’s the opinion most scholars held in the “Faith and Society” panel.

Extended Reading

Dr. T. Jeremy Gunn is an associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. He is a senior fellow for Religion and Human Rights at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University School of Law and the former Director of the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. He received his Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University, a J.D., magna cum laude, from Boston University, and an M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago.

He held several positions in the U.S. government, including one at the U.S. Department of State (Office of International Religious Freedom) and the Executive Director of a federal agency that declassified records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace from 1998 to 1999.

Reported by: Wu Cuiting
Edited by: Chen Long