Typical Aspects
Key qualities often (not all are always strongly present) shared by religion (particularly cults) and political religion include
- Structural
- differentiation between self and other, and demonisation of other (in theistic religion, the differentiation usually depends on adherence to certain dogmas and social behaviours; in political religion, differentiation may be on grounds such as nationality, social attitudes, or membership in "enemy" political parties, instead)
- a transcendent leadership, either with messianic tendencies, often a charismatic figurehead;
- strong, hierarchical organisational structures
- the control of education, in order to ensure the security, continuation and the veneration of the existing system.
- Belief
- a coherent belief system for imposing symbolic meaning on the external world, with an emphasis on security through faith in the system;
- an intolerance of other ideologies of the same type
- a degree of utopianism
- the belief that the ideology is in some way natural or obvious, so that (at least for certain groups of people) those who reject it are in some way "blind"
- a genuine desire on the part of individuals to convert others to the cause
- a willingness to place ends over means - in particular, a willingness to use violence and fraud
- fatalism - a belief that the ideology will inevitably triumph in the end
Not all of these aspects are present in any one political religion; this is only a list of some common aspects.
Read more about this topic: Political Religion
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