Believing in an idea that regulates your life will influence every aspect of your life. One simply cannot live a “Christian life” involving only religion and become divided when it comes to politics. So, believing in anything shapes you as a person: creates your boundaries, defines morality and what is right and wrong. Therefore, religion will always be linked to politics. In politics today, religion overlaps with politics in many ways. Considering that religion has become more open and in America it is supposed to be separate from church and state, one would believe that progression has completely separated them, at least in the United States. However, looking over time, one can only argue that religion has become less influential, but remains predominant. Like in political factions, where people tend to agree with like-minded individuals creating parties. Throughout history, many “enlightened” thinkers have shared their contradictory and confirmed beliefs. Philosophers have attempted to explain the phenomenon of religious zeal influencing politics, with some condemning it and others confirming it. Voltaire wrote in the book Candide a critique of the Church and the State. He ridicules philosophy in favor of the mantra “…the best of all possible worlds” (Voltaire 144), by showing his characters experiencing extreme and continuous suffering. They believed that since the perfect God had created the world, everything must have a divine purpose. The clergy stood by and allowed the suffering to continue because it was of no use to them to change the world, while Protestants and Catholics both held political power; the Anabaptist, who did not believe in the importance of holding political position...... middle of paper ......ion influences individuals to make better law for other religions and people who did not believe and how Christians could live in society. Voltaire mocked the government and tried to show how the misery of the people should take precedence over its puny religious and political courts. Finally, Shakespeare shows how difficult it is to balance the two. Therefore, there are many aspects that tie these two seemingly separate ideas together. I was unaware of the severity and completeness of the consequences of combining religion and politics. Religion is supposed to be something higher than anything else, because it is the soul of a person. However, society has distorted its purity and transformed many elements into a corruption of human nature. Human nature does not allow anything to remain innocent, which is why religion has interfered in politics..