The Relationship between Religion and Politics in the political thought of two founders: " State religion" by Thomas Hobbes and "Religious State" by Imam Khomeini
محورهای موضوعی :
Ali Kamalinejad
1
,
Malek Yahya Salahi
2
,
Seyed Mostafa Abtahi
3
1 - Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Tehran, Iran / Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Political Science, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Political Science, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
کلید واژه: Khomeini, Hobbes, secularism, religious state, state religion,
چکیده مقاله :
The discussion on the relationship between religion and politics has a long history in Christianity, spanning several centuries. With the onset of modernity, especially with the theories proposed by Thomas Hobbes, the claim of secularism or the separation of religion from politics was raised and remains a subject of much debate to this day. Thomas Hobbes, in the aftermath of the religious wars in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, attempted to transform worldly power into the ulti-mate arbiter in the public sphere by separating the foundations of politics from religion, introducing the concept of "state religion." In contrast to the West, Islamic thought has consistently understood politics based on religious foundations. In the 20th century, due to colonization, the debate on the separation of religion from politics entered the Islamic world. With the victory of the Islamic Revo-lution, this Western claim was challenged, and Imam Khomeini introduced the theory of the "Reli-gious state," presenting the religious nature of political foundations in Islam in a novel way. Based on these foundations, this article aims to explore the relationship between religion and politics in the political thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and Imam Khomeini, both of whom, as founders and initia-tors of political thought, have presented era-defining views. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate, through an examination of their arguments, the perspectives on the relationship between religion and politics put forth by Imam Khomeini and Hobbes. Through this comparative analysis, we can highlight important points in these two types of thinking. Consequently, by considering the discus-sions regarding the relationship between religion and politics in Western and Islamic thought, using a descriptive-analytical approach, we pose the following questions: What is the relationship be-tween religion and politics in the political thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and Imam Khomeini? What is the concept of "state religion" according to Thomas Hobbes? What is the concept of the "Reli-gious state" according to Imam Khomeini?
The discussion on the relationship between religion and politics has a long history in Christianity, spanning several centuries. With the onset of modernity, especially with the theories proposed by Thomas Hobbes, the claim of secularism or the separation of religion from politics was raised and remains a subject of much debate to this day. Thomas Hobbes, in the aftermath of the religious wars in England during the 16th and 17th centuries, attempted to transform worldly power into the ulti-mate arbiter in the public sphere by separating the foundations of politics from religion, introducing the concept of "state religion." In contrast to the West, Islamic thought has consistently understood politics based on religious foundations. In the 20th century, due to colonization, the debate on the separation of religion from politics entered the Islamic world. With the victory of the Islamic Revo-lution, this Western claim was challenged, and Imam Khomeini introduced the theory of the "Reli-gious state," presenting the religious nature of political foundations in Islam in a novel way. Based on these foundations, this article aims to explore the relationship between religion and politics in the political thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and Imam Khomeini, both of whom, as founders and initia-tors of political thought, have presented era-defining views. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate, through an examination of their arguments, the perspectives on the relationship between religion and politics put forth by Imam Khomeini and Hobbes. Through this comparative analysis, we can highlight important points in these two types of thinking. Consequently, by considering the discus-sions regarding the relationship between religion and politics in Western and Islamic thought, using a descriptive-analytical approach, we pose the following questions: What is the relationship be-tween religion and politics in the political thoughts of Thomas Hobbes and Imam Khomeini? What is the concept of "state religion" according to Thomas Hobbes? What is the concept of the "Reli-gious state" according to Imam Khomeini?
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