Question

Before partition, how was religion used in politics?

a) To promote gender equality and women's rights
b) To advocate for technological advancements
c) To justify rulership through divine right
d) To encourage international diplomacy and peace

Answer 1

Before partition maintaining social order, justifying rulership through divine right and legitimizing hierarchies until philosophical shifts advocated for the evaluation of political systems based on their capacity to maintain peace.

Therefore, the correct answer is: option c) To justify rulership through divine right.

Step-by-step explanation:

Before the partition, religion was predominantly used in politics to justify rulership through divine right. Monarchies across Europe, after the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire, heavily relied on affiliation with Christianity to legitimize their authority.

Political leaders would often assert that they were chosen by God to rule, and such claims provided stability and justified the social hierarchies of the time. It was not until the mid-1600s with philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes that the idea began to shift towards evaluating political systems based on their effectiveness in securing social peace rather than adherence to religious doctrines.

Religious influences in politics have varied over time and region, with some states exhibiting a union between the church and state, where religious leaders dictate political decision-making, while other societies maintain a clear separation between the two, though often giving certain privileges to religious institutions, such as tax or military exemptions.