In my opinion, Politics and Religion are not actually ever as separated as people in democratic states such as ours would hope. But I also believe that the two cannot exist in their current volumes without each other. To me politics and government are truly there so that we can feel as if there is a set of rules that we can and should all follow; religion, on the other hand, plays the role of giving people something intangible in which to believe that they can strive for when there is not an immediate human presence there making sure that they follow rules that are (more often than not) very similar to the societal ones. With this comes my strong belief that it is no accident that places in which a religion is pertinent, the laws of the government are never too far off otherwise the government would very quickly lose control. This arises from the simple fact that, though both laws and religion often arise from a simple system of set consequences as a deterrent to a given action, one has to have graver consequences than the other. That is to say, in a society in which lying does not result in the loss of one's limbs, the main religion is often one in which doing such a thing can result in eternal damnation. Conversely, in a society in which one may have battery acid thrown upon them for being out of proper attire, a religion with reincarnation or a similar idea is more likely to hold power. More or less, my theory is that politics and religion govern different realms of peoples' lives when they are established.
And here is a comedian Mike Birbiglia poking fun at a couple Religions (unfortunately there are no higher quality videos)
