Atle Hetland<\/p>\n
Last week, I wrote in my article entitled \u2018Under the same Roof\u2019 about the many things we human beings have in common, either we are royal or commoner, as we would say in my home country Nor\u00adway, or, rich or poor, well-ed\u00aducated or not so well educat\u00aded, and so on. And we might even add that the religion we have is no longer something we should emphasize. However, it is a fact that in Norway, Christiani\u00adty still has a special place, yet, also with major modernisation and change with\u00adin the religious associations in the re\u00adcent couple of generations. For example resulting in half of the twelve bishops being women, and the trend is that soon the majority of the all the twelve hundred pastors will also be women. There was quite some resistance to the change but now it is hardly any issue at all. Since 2012, the Protestant Luther Church of Norway is no longer a state church, and today, the second large re\u00adligion outside Christianity is Islam, in\u00adcluding several hundred thousand members, followed in number by Cath\u00adolic Christians, and other smaller reli\u00adgions. A sizeable number are members of the non-religious Humanist-Ethical Society, and in our time, many are what we can call \u2018culturally Christian\u2019, mean\u00ading they are not active members in any congregation but attend major reli\u00adgious events occasionally.
\nIn Pakistan, Islam plays a central role in people\u2019s everyday life, and most men attend \u2018namaz\u2019 or \u2018salah\u2019 prayers five times a day. Christians, Hindus and oth\u00aders attend their religious ceremonies, but none of them are held as frequent\u00adly as the Muslim prayers. In all religions, prayers are key elements of faith. In Is\u00adlam, it is considered essential along with giving \u2018zakat\u2019 to charity. The Bible gives similar emphasis of worshiping God and doing to others what we want others to do unto us, as Jesus\/Isa\u2019s advised (Luke 6:31and Matthew 7:12), commonly re\u00adferred to as the \u2018Golden Rule\u2019.
\nNow then, it wasn\u2019t my intention in today\u2019s article to go deeply into theol\u00adogy, but I wanted to stress that behind and above politics, there is religion, too. Yet, considering the election time and the establishment of a new government in Pakistan, and the many other coun\u00adtries in the world that hold elections this year (maybe up to half of all coun\u00adtries), it is a fact that we include religion and values when considering secular politics. In Muslim countries, religion is seen as part of secular rule. But also in other countries, even in today\u2019s secular Europe and America, Christianity still plays a role, less for dogma and doc\u00adtrine, but certainly for values.
\nA friend who read my article last week told me that she didn\u2019t like it very much, saying that I had not been con\u00adcrete enough but rather philosophical and general. She was right, but then I had written the article like that on pur\u00adpose because I wanted to say that even if we disagree on party politics and other issues of the day, there are still broader issues to consider beyond poli\u00adtics. True everything is politics, but pol\u00aditics is not everything, as the title of to\u00adday\u2019s article reads.
\nWhen Gro Harlem Brundtland (b. 1939)) was PM three times in Norway in the 1980s and 1990s, many people were quite intrigued by the fact that her husband Arne Olav Brundtland (b. 1936) was a member of the Conserva\u00adtive Party while she was in the Labour Party. He even stood as a candidate for parliament, but without success. In those days, married couples usually vot\u00aded for the same party, and that was usu\u00adally the party which the husband sup\u00adported, since people usually thought a man would know more about politics than his wife. Eventually, the PM and her wife became members of the same political party, notably the wife\u2019s party. Recently, Gro Harlem Brundtland also revealed that she quite admired her ma\u00adjor political opponent in her time, K\u00e5re Willoch (1928-2021), who was a PM for some time, too. We all thought they dis\u00adliked each other, but she said that was not the case and she had great respect for his precise analyses and knowledge, even when they disagreed.
\nI would like to underline at the cur\u00adrent time of general elections and ne\u00adgotiations for creating a cabinet in Pakistan, that politics is certainly im\u00adportant. Yet, there are at the same time more issues that unite than that divide people. Those in power should also consider the opinions of the minori\u00adties. However, that does not mean that we should expect the opposition to ac\u00adcept the majority outright in all cases. The opposition has an essential par\u00adliamentary role in keeping an eye on the party or parties in power. Perhaps I should add, though, that for the sake of stability and good democratic be\u00adhaviour, the majority should be given a chance to rule, preferably throughout the parliamentary term they have been elected for, which, however, has not yet become common in Pakistan. Serious and honest politics is important, but not politicking for the sake of it.
\nWe should realize that the general elections are the top of the iceberg, cer\u00adtainly mandatory in democracies, but we should still realize that there are many other important political and ad\u00administrative activities at national, pro\u00advincial and district levels, which also include the civil and military services, the judiciary, the private sector, civil so\u00adciety, and more, even informal aspects and the way we live and contribute in everyday life. The role of the super\u00adstructure of a society, where religion has a special prominence, is essential, but general values are also important, our ways of thinking, our history, les\u00adsons from other peoples and countries, and so on, shaping our daily life and fu\u00adture aspirations and hopes.
\nAlthough politics is important; it is everything, as the title of my articles says, but at the same time adding that everything is not politics. After the general elections, we ordinary people should take a break and let the leaders at the top in political parties and in oth\u00ader key places, including the media, do their work. The rest of us should ob\u00adserve and keep our interest up, express our opinions in polite and construc\u00adtive ways and realize, too, that may\u00adbe what we think and believe will not be implemented immediately, or at all, but we still keep working for it. As or\u00addinary people, we should also focus on improving things where we are, in our communities and settings.
\nFinally today, I would like to under\u00adline that politics at the top in politi\u00adcal parties, the parliament and gov\u00adernment, and at lower levels, should not be too hard and uncompromising \u2013 which seems to be the case in many. It should be pleasant, even fun to take part in important political work. For youth to spend time and energy on politics in future, it must be made more attractive than it often is today so that democracy can improve and flourish. In the West, with numbers from the Varieties of Democracies In\u00adstitute in Gothenburg, Sweden, figures show a major decline in membership in political parties in recent decades. That is worrying for the future, and it can give room for populist and other less democratic groups. I hope that we will see a revival and renewal of social and political parties in old and young democracies. It is up to us all to real\u00adize that, especially the youth, who will also include modern communication technologies and new ways of work\u00ading, locally and internationally.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Atle Hetland Last week, I wrote in my article entitled \u2018Under the same Roof\u2019 about the many things we human beings have in common, either we are royal or commoner, as we would say in my home country Nor\u00adway, or, rich or poor, well-ed\u00aducated or not so well educat\u00aded, and so on. And we might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12984],"class_list":{"0":"post-387406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-atle-hetland"},"yoast_head":"\n