I have a term focused around this notion in Study of Religion so i want to hear everyones views.
You can take it anyway you like, heres a few to start off with:
Should the church have a role with the State or Should the State ignore the Christian community? (Not saying that the community will be disadvantaged in anyway)
Why should the State stay secular? What are the benefits of staying neutral with the Church.
Are there any Countries who pride themselves on being a secular state but justify their laws on similar values of the Church?
Is this because the Church has played a significant role in evolving humanity and its common ethics?
Just a few questions. I would love to hear your opinions on this issue.
I’m not so sure about that Smears. Several countries in Europe have official religions and governmental ties to religion (England and Germany come to mind as two big ones) and they are incredibly secular. The US and Turkey, on the other hand, are officially secular but their elected governments are dominated by religion. If you think that comparison is unfair, look at France and compare it to England and Germany. Sure, both England and Germany have their problems with bigotry but neither have endorsed a xenophobic religious radical in a nation-wide election (even if Le Pen did get creamed once he got there). To me, it seems that a separation of church and state radicalizes the churches because they feel they need to get heavily involved in government to protect/justify their existence.
Read the founding fathers (of the USA) to see their reasons as to why there must be separation of church and state.
Then that wouldn’t be a secular state. It would be a theocracy. Many in the USA might like to think that their values are derived from religion, but in actuality, values are simply a part of social creatures. Language results in values in a society.
The evolution of religion certainly has played a role in affecting or manipulating values.
If there were convincing evidence that a god existed and it endorsed a particular church, I would reject the Separation of Church and State. In such a world, we would be fools not to establish a theocracy. An angry god could cause natural disasters, plagues, and all sorts of nasty things to happen. Any attempt to overthrow the god would likely be unsuccessful, so the best choice would be to follow its commands.
Luckily, this is not true of our world, so a church shouldn’t be more involved in government than any other business.
Although the church represents fair amount of people in each country, it shouldnt have a significant involvement in the State. However, it seems that they can bypass involvement in the State by incorporating the issue into their Christian ethics. Conscription on the other hand is an issue that i would say needed the Church’s opinion, since it clearly effects the majority of their community. Not just abortion and euthanasia… etc Which is an individual decision.
(What i find so overwhelming is that each way can be strongly justified, which does not help the debate at all!)
The Jewish people in the Old Testament that worked in conjunction with God fusing their faith with their government failed on different occasions. This was not due to God, but to the people who would not follow God’s ordinances and then would suffer the consequences.
It would seem to me if other governments ran from a secular standpoint with people using their religious tenets to work in the background to act as guidelines for that particular government, then this would be an acceptable alliance in which it would be beneficial for all. In my opinion a democratic structure would be the best vehicle for this to happen. Governments fail because men fail to follow the original precepts of that state’s constitutional vision. When you alter the core laws and statutes (i.e. U.S.) of a nation, then you head down a slippery slope through judicial and amended deviations. Ultimately it’s those decisions made in incremental steps which will undermine that government.
you should study the case of Cyprus. The Greek Orthodox Church received " protector of ethnos" status from Ottoman Times, and was the dominant political force all the way during the British Colonial period and the first president was also the Archibishop not suprisingly things got fudged up. even today, the Minister of Education has to “receive the Green light” from the Church, although with the candidacy of Demetris Christofias things will change. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_pr … tion,_2008)for those interested. don’t look at the five six polls at the bottom page, there were maybe fourty altogether
I think the church should be able to influence the Government in countries where the majority of people are Christian. For example close to 80% of Americans are Christian.
‘Christian’ encompasses a lot of different beliefs. 78.5% are Christian, broken down into 52% Protestant, 24.5% Catholic and 2% Mormon, and many other denominations. And this doesn’t even mention the diversity with in Protestantism. So right away if you take majority, you are alienating just under half the population and roughly a third of the ‘Christian’ community. Then of the remaining 21.5% of non Christian Americans, 1.4% (or 2.8 million) Jews, 0.6% (or 2.4 million) Muslims, and 0.5% Buddhists, and 0.4% Hindu’s. Again this mentions nothing of the different branches of the respective religions. And coming in at roughly 15% are the atheists. Pretty large group to ignore.
I love to substitute Allah for Jesus, Islam for Christianity, and Muslim for Christian in all of Soldout’s posts.
It works out almost all the time! It is hilarious!
He/She is close to the definition of what some have referred to as “The American Taliban”
Soldout would love to see a U.S. Ayatollah. Out with Democracy and in with Theocracy! YAHOO!
I was being sarcastic of course. I am for democracy and against theocracy. But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Soldout being for a Christian-run theocratic USA.
I understood the sarcasm, but the connotation was that Christian voters in the US shouldn’t be allowed to vote along their conscious. I’m not placing any judgment, but denying that seems to preclude to option of democracy. Likewise with Muslim voters in the Middle East, Buddhist voters in Thailand, ect.
not suprisingly things got fudged up. even today, the Minister of Education has to “receive the Green light” from the Church, although with the candidacy of Demetris Christofias things will change. 
I am for democracy and against theocracy. But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Soldout being for a Christian-run theocratic USA.