Political Science

Judaism
Judaism is a religion based on the principles and practices derived from the Tanakh (Jewish bible). Believers of the religion claim that it is an expression of the relationship God covenantly developed with the Israelites people who are considered to be descendants of Jacob of the Old Testament. It has various branches with some being monotheistic, others believe in the written torah while others believe in both the oral and written torah (Borowitz, 1984). As one of the oldest religions based on monotheism, Judaism has been very influential to the both Islam and Christianity. Judaism has also been very instrumental in the trends of the western civil Law and secular ethics. As an ethno religious group, Judaism constituted of about 13 million followers as of 2007 with 40 of them in U.S and 40 in Israel (Arnold, 1995). Major differences between the various Judaism groups are their interpretation of the Jewish law. Though once enforced in courts, the Judaism principles today are basically voluntary. Characterized by religious dogma, Judaism is founded on divine revelation.

Despite having the highest ethical and spiritual truths regarding humanity it is integrated into the corrupt Jewish national law (Arnold, 1995). The Torah is mainly aimed at distinguishing Israelites as a Gods people. According to the written Torah, Yahweh, is the only God of Israel. Judaism is shows guardianship of the humanity religious truths and guides the Jewish supreme Gods people. This is achieved through rites and laws of a particular character from a national perspective while at the same time keeping the religious truths intact within the people. Judaism plays a key role in the governance of the countries that practice it since its founded on fidelity in God as the worlds ruler.                                          
Its universal, and varies all over world religions as it is not based on belief systems or creed. Principles of Judaism have had enormous influence on the state law in Israel to deter any injustice against Gods people. Judaism has been integrated into the state law to influence the interactions in the national context since it is treated as a law of justice demanding compassionate and justice equally for all people even in heathendom. Judaism relates to the state law as a tool through which justice is executed as a Noachian humanity law. The Judaism religion has therefore been core in the formulation of rabbinic law principles (Borowitz, 1984).

The role played by Judaism in influencing culture and society across the world particularly in the western context is enormous. Having grown from Judaism, Christianity borrows some values and ideas from Judaism. The founder of Christianity Jesus Christ and his apostles were Jewish by birth and the Jewish bible contributed a lot into the Christian bibles Old Testament. Major principles in Judaism are as equally importation in the Christian context. These similar principles are referred as the Judeo-Christian tradition (Arnold, 1995). These ideas became paramount in the process of formulating the eastern perceptions regarding morality, law and social justice. Judaism was also very influential in other aspects of the European civilization such as literature, weekly schedules and religion. The western literature draws greatly from the sacred texts, the Hebrew bible and the Ten Commandments sourced from Judaism. From a worlds perspective, the idea of the modern day weekend has its roots in the Judaisms every weeks day of rest.
 
In the western civilization, the individual liberty is highly respected. Recognizing self worth and the need for dignity, the idea of self worth is deduced from the Hebrews bible first book, first chapter (Borowitz, 1984). In the ancient western culture, charity was not valued. Following the integration of western and Judaism cultures, charity was adopted and this principle is known to have been derived from the Judaism texts depicting their resentment for indifference. In Judaism, it was obligatory to help each other. The western culture believes in the fairness in trials. The idea is however known to have originated from the Judaism texts promoting fairness such as the Talmud and the Hebrew bible (Arnold, 1995).

Christianity
Being the most popular religion the world over, Christianity has its basis on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Over 2.1 billion people in the world are Christians and believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God having come into the world more than 2000 year ago to establish the church (Ferguson, 1978). Early ecumenical Christian creeds form the foundation of the Christian theology as they encompass claims that are accepted predominantly by adherents of the Christian religion. According to these creeds, to be a Christian entails believing in Jesus Christ as the son of God, who while in the world suffered, was crucified, died, was buried and resurrected from the world of the dead, ascended into heaven to reign and rule with God. Christians also believe that He is to return again to grant eternal life to those who believe in Him for the remission of their sins. He is regarded as the representative of the virtuous life and both the physical incarnation and revealer of God (Earl, 1973).The religion began in Palestine on the day of Pentecost the time of Emperor Tiberius.

Christianity grew in Judaism through orthodox Jews and was regarded by the Jews as an Israelites sect. Christianity was distinct from Judaism in that it was a new religion from the perspective of its founder (Christ), its creed, attitude towards man and God and its moral code spirit (Earl, 1973). As St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 517 notes, If any man be in Christ, he says, he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are new.

The western civilization owes a lot to Christianity and specifically Western Christianity among other traditions. It is through Christianity that individual sanctity was established. Individual sanctity was very instrumental in defining and supporting the liberty concept in the U.S. law (Ferguson, 1978). The concept of separation and as relating to power limitation originated from Christian institutions such as the Roman Catholic papacy. The enlightment of the elite in the west did challenge Christianity especially in the 1960s prompting the Christian to fight back to retain its position in the western culture. This influenced to a great extent the western civilization. Apart from establishing the elements of enlightment tradition, Christianity tradition in the west was key in maintain the rest of the traditions in balance and hence both political and social balance. Christianity, especial within the Roman Catholic has been a hindering force in women freedom (Earl, 1973). This contributed so much to reformations within the Christian church and in influencing the idea of feminism in the 20th century west.  By advocating for high standards of morality, Christianity has had enormous effect on the society as these morals go a long way to promote coexistence. For instance, Christianity was made law by King Olav in 1020 A.D. thus demonizing activities such slavery, polygamy and black magic common in the society then. In England and America, Christian movements led the fight against slavery and this had a great impact on the formulation of state policies for protection of human rights (Ferguson, 1978).

However, Christianity has also encountered intense challenges over time due to the intervention of both political and cultural factors. For instance, in the U.S, there has been prevalent immigration leading into the introduction of other religious beliefs such as Islam. There has been integration of political forces and the church principles as well as increased focus on secular issue such as money rather the gospel (Ferguson, 1978). Rifts within the Christian church are the basis for the numerous Christian beliefs that exist today. In 1054 C.E, the Christian church experienced the first split between the easts Greek and the west Latin speaking Christians as a result of disagreement on the basis of rituals rather than doctrines.

The world has experienced grievous conflicts propagated by Christianity. The Israel-Palestinian conflict was for example triggered by the Christians interest in recapturing the holy land (Earl, 1973). This conflict has led to millions of causalities contrary to Christian teachings against killing. A number of political movements affiliated to Christianity have risen to promote Christian interests irrespective of the religions principles. Political Zionism for example was very instrumental in promoting the 19th century colonial spirit of the west. Through Zionist movements, conflict escalated in Palestine whereby the Christians unlawfully expelled about 50,000 Palestinians from their territory in 1948 (Ferguson, 1978). Evangelical Zionists have worked in support of both the U.S President Bush and the policy makers to further their interests at the expense of Jesus exhortations. Immoral and naive interpretation of the biblical principles led to the establishment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the name of political cleansing. Characterized by intense conflict, the mainstream church has failed to demonstrate a model that promotes ethical engagement. Church leadership has been reluctant to condemn the injustice done by the political Zionists on Palestine.

Christianity was also very instruments in furthering the cold war through NATOs foreign policy. This led to the establishment of enemity between the national liberation movements and the communist groups despite the churchs mandate to promote peace. All along, Zionist politics have been contradicting the theology taught by the founder of Christianity (Christ) ( Earl, 1973 23). Spread of the of Islam in the middle east region around the 10th century, prompted the Roman catholic papacy to launch the crusades against the Arabs to reclaim the holy land (Palestine). In essence, the crusades were primarily motivated by personal interest of the Europeans in that some crusaders wanted to take advantage of resources in this new are to expand their territories. These crusades have since then been the basis of the conflict between Muslims and Christians. There have been numerous other Christian movements based on extreme interpretation of conflict resolution. These movements such as the K.K.K and the Americas New Christian Right have furthered intolerant ends and in turn violence has escalated to unstoppable scale (Ferguson, 1978).  

Currently, there exist numerous Christian churches which are the product of the 16th century conflicts leading to the protestant reformation a major schism that followed the renaissance in the 16th century (Earl, 1973). The only Christian church then Roman Catholic was characterized by intense revolts due to secular interest of the pope and the clergy contrary to the Christianity doctrine. Integration of church doctrines and secular interests of the Roman clergy leading to activities such as the sale of indulgencies prompted reformists like Martin Luther (1517) and latter Calvin and Zwingli to protest against the Roman doctrines. Rather than unite the people, the Roman church doctrine propagated separation. For instance, King Henry VIII assumed the position of head of church in England in 1534 leading to the reformation in England. Following the reformation, the Roman Catholic began Counter Reformation through the proceedings of the Council of Trent instituting new doctrinal changes in the Catholic Church then (Earl, 1973 67). This set in competition between the two religious forces and this has over time been manifested in the political struggles among nations of the world especially in the European states.

The church was also instrumental in furthering colonialism by the European nations. The 1942s Columbus discovery of the American continent led to the colonial expansion impetus in the name missionary activity. Moreover, numerous state religions such as Englands Anglicanism, and Germanys Lutheranism came up and were characterized by vigorous conflicts and this did affect the society negatively. Some wars propagated by Christianity include the English civil war religion wars in French and the Thirty Years War.

Christianity doctrines are the basis of some political ideologies such as Marxism and liberalism. As vital aspects of the civilization process of the European states, these movements were founded on events such as anti-clericalism and dechristianization (Earl 1973 73). In the western culture particularly, Christianity doctrine has been a key factor influencing the establishment of certain political norms such as separation of powers thus distinguishing democracy in the modern western culture from the general democracy. With respect to these norms, the western culture emphasizes a lot on the individual as it seeks to retain the individual liberty and difference.  Christianity was thus central to the civilization in the European countries as in some instances it was treated as a state department. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, the churchmen as the only reaming educated people took responsibility of the civil authority. In the 12th-13th century, the church (papal power) and the emperors were involved in stiff political struggle for control of events.

Hinduism
Of organized religions, Hinduism is believed to be the oldest and has had a profound impact to the civilization of the world. It is a religion of the Indian people drawing a lot from the traditional practices of the various mythologies and cultures (Flood, 2003). It is the most tolerant and liberal religion in the world with its origin dating back to 1500 BCE.  It is thus believed to be the foundation of civilization in the world. The practice of Hinduism holds it that three are a number of paths to get to salvation yoga practice, Jesus and Quran. With over a billion followers, the Hindu philosophy teaches that all people across the world are friends. Unlike other religions that are based on the philosophies of their charismatic leaders, Hinduism is a religion founded by the people for the people. In regards to civilization, Hinduism has influenced the establishment into the Hindu nationalists, the Hinduvta as the dominant factor (Ferguson, 1978). Distinguishing the Hindu religion form other religions is the fact that Hindus believe in multiple gods and diverse ways to salvation. Unlike Islam, Judaism and Christianity, Hindus worship visible gods whom they know their images. As religious worlds, the Aryan and Indus valley have been very instrumental in the civilization of both India and the world.

Despite being the most tolerant religion, Hinduism has been involved in a series of conflicts that have contributed greatly to civilization in India and the world at large. This is because of the conflict between the philosophical concepts held by the Hindus and other religions (Flood, 2003). Within the Hindu community, there have been conflicts among the different Castes and with other religious communities. Conflicts in the Hindu religion have erupted due to the efforts of groups such as the militants and fanatics imposing their beliefs through fundamentalism forces. Trying to denounce the Hindu gods and Hindu beliefs has been the source of conflict between Hindu and Islam and the Christianity. The liberality practiced in Hinduism seeks to accommodate all other religious beliefs believing that they are but the diverse ways of reaching god. This has time and again escalated conflict between Hindus and other religious organizations. In essence, the Hindu religion is based on the advancement of peace as a unifying factor among the people of different religious backgrounds. On the contrary, it practices then oppressive Caste (class) system (Flood, 2003). Despite the constitution of India having guaranteed equality among all Indians, the caste system distinguishes each caste from the other and this inequality has been a source of conflict within the Hindu community.

Following the prevalence of trade, the Indians were very instrumental in influencing the cultures of other regions through their organized Hindu religion. Having been organized at time when other religions and culture had not been developed, the Hindu religion played a key role in the civilizations of the world especially the western culture (Ferguson, 1978). According to Flood (2003 89), experts have termed the influence of Indian civilization as Indianization. Through trade, Hinduism spread to Indians trade partners such the Roman Empire in the west and China in the east who were by then less civilized. These states adopted Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva including other aspects of Hinduism. The caste system in Hinduism contributed a lot to the civilization of the western culture leading to the idea of class distinctions.  For instance, the Hinduism Brahmins caste was during the period of Funan (first century) incorporated to facilitate administration in royal courts Flood, 2003 167).  

Islam
Islam is one of the religions known to have significantly influenced the civilization of the word amidst stiff repression from the existing religions. Islam is founded on the principle of submission as depicted in the meaning of the word Islam submission to god (Goldziher, 1981).  The religion builds on the idea of one God as the founder Mohamed preached. Islam grew in idolatry characterized Arab society. Born in Mecca, Mohamed founded the Islamic religion in 610 A.D in a nomadic Arab territory amidst prevalent ignorance for values and lack of law and governance. He faced repression in Mecca while establishing the religion in prompting him to move to Medina. Before his death in 32 A.D, Mohamed had successful spread established his teachings despite oppression from non-Muslims and pagans of Mecca.

The death of Mohammad was a catastrophe as the Muslims who had since the inception of Islam, not thought of a Mohammads successor (Lewis, 1993). Mohamed had established a strong Islamic polity that was left vacuum following his death. It is then Abu bakr succeeded Mohamed as the first caliph of the first caliphate. The growth of Muslim was characterized by violence both within and without the religion. This was driven by the urge to conquer more territories and establish Islam and struggle for leadership. For instance, during the reign Abu bakr, Muslims launched offensives and conquered 22,000 miles of land. The caliphates, especially the third and the second were characterized by intense conflicts as the caliphs practiced discrimination, secularism and were mean (Goldziher, 1981).

Islam is the foremost religion to have advocated for democracy with both the king and the peasant side by side presenting themselves to God. This principle has been borrowed by the western culture especially the U.S to promote fairness and equality from a social and political context. Research indicates that the unmatched unity among the Islamic people was the inspiration behind the League of Nations (Lewis, 1993). Islam as a civilization spread rapidly from the onset of the first caliphate, during the Arabs, Persians and Turks rule. Reforms in other religions especially Christianity were influenced by Islam. Islam has always been against discrimination and this has immensely contributed to the establishment of Rights movements in the western culture particularly. Unity depicted in the sisterhood and brotherhood principles of the Islam religion have gone way beyond local attachments to any particular race, language or tribe and have been a major contributor to the idea of equality and justice in the worlds civilizations. The various sciences and arts in the worlds civilization today draws a lot from the global civilization established through Islamic caliphates (Lewis, 1993 128). Islams global civilization was also very instrumental in changing the minds of the nomadic Arabs and hence the creativity of its followers thus making the nomadic Arabs the pioneers of learning and science. This has influenced the civilization in respect to culture and intellectual to an extent not achieved before.