Religion and the Global Goals

Many people will argue that religion and politics don’t mix. However, in our society, it is difficult to separate the two.

Our culture is impacted by religion. Whether it is currently being impacted by religion or our culture was built around the principles of a particular religion many many years ago, we are often governed by these ideals and values, sometimes without even realising it ourselves.

Culture then has an impact on the Global Goals. Some countries already have many freedoms for women as outlined in Goal 5: Gender Equality. Other countries are governed by cultural ideals that make these freedoms more difficult to achieve. Some countries are more accepting of people from diverse backgrounds; others are further behind in their achievement of Goal 10.

Therefore, it is important to understand religion has such a profound impact on the Global Goals as the Global Goals do on religion.

In Australia, many of our not-for-profit organisations have religious roots and are founded on principles of faith. These community organisations are not necessarily set up for religious purposes; however, they allow people who follow the values of those religions to carry out the work of that particular faith-based organisation.