Separation of the State and Church

1370 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How religion affects political decisions

The separation of the state and church refers to the distinct distance in the relationship that exists between the national state and the organized church. Although the aspect of separation between the state and the church has worked in a number of nations, the degree of separation varies depending on the valid legal policies and laws in relationship with the prevalence views on the religious aspect of the society. In most of the nations that practice such separation, there exists distinct rules and regulation between church and state. However, between the two entities, there will always exists a way through which the two entities will interact and consult each other as individual entities (Hamburger 67). The discussion and focus of the paper will dwell on the argument against the separation of the church and the state.
In some nations such as France and Turkey, the level of relations that exists between the nations and the church simply does not contribute to any reforms and law enforcing togetherness. Each of the entities in the nation act independent hence gives diverse opinion concerning issues affecting the nation as a whole. While in other nations such as United Kingdom and Denmark, the constitutional recognizes the official state and the religious organization working together for the common good of the nations (Hall 111). In general, the separation of the church and the state is an aspect that will affect both the involved parties. Gross dictates that, “….both the nation and its legal departments directly or indirectly depend on the religious organizations” (Gross 192). The contrary also works for the churches that in some way also rely on the government for support and financial aid. Some of the reason that contributes...

... middle of paper ...

...ew York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Internet resource.
Gross, Michael B. The War against Catholicism: Liberalism and the Anti-Catholic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. Print.
Hall, Timothy L. Separating Church and State: Roger Williams and Religious Liberty. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007. Print.
Hamburger, Philip. Separation of Church and State. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2002. Print.
Johnson, Alvin W, and Frank H. Yost. Separation of Church and State in the United States. Minneapolis?: Minnesota Archive Editions, 2011. Print.
Scherer, Matthew. Beyond Church and State: Democracy, Secularism, and Conversion. University of Michigan Press, 2013. Print.
Shiffrin, Steven H. The Religious Left and Church-State Relations. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2012. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Roger Williams, William Penn, the Maryland Assembly and Liberty Conscience

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hall, Timothy L. Separating Church and State: Roger Williams and Religious Liberty. University of IllinoisPress, Chicago: 1998,Maryland Assembly. “Act Concerning Religion” [ 1649].

    Read More

  • Taking a Closer Look at The Salem Witch Trials

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    The general court was set on a path to separating the beliefs of the church and the government. Luckily, years later a law would be passed in the Constitution that separates church and state.

    Read More

  • Clash on Investiture: King Henry IV

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...s argument seemed secondary to the states argument, but it ultimately proved lesser when the church deserted facts resorting to banishment. The state used valid evidence to support their side of the argument as well as strategizing well enough to figure out exactly what would be most beneficial. Although the state wanted to be completely separate from the church, the state realized the most expedient plan would be to be almost completely separate from the church. On the other hand, the church was too reclusive and greedy to give the state any power, let alone share power with the church. The church finally overcame its greediness and agreed to share some power concerning investiture. Additionally proving the states argument to be more compelling, the state got their way in the end by being able to submit the names out of which the pope would choose the bishops.

    Read More

  • From Renaissance Law to Modern Democracy: A Historical Perspective

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the place that religion holds in democracy. “Religion, by teaching man his relationship to God, gives the individual a sense of his own dignity and teaches him to respect himself by respecting his neighbor's. Democracy, the practice of self-government, is a covenant among free men to respect the rights and liberties of their fellows. International good faith, a sister of democracy, springs from the will of civilized nations of men to respect the rights and liberties of other nations of men. In a modern civilization, all three—religion, democracy and international good faith—complement and support each other” (Franklin D. Roosevelt: State of the Union message). This statement supported the idea that religion is associated with a well functioning government. However, in the case of Everson v. Board of Education it was stated that, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach” (Hugo Black). This case occurred after Roosevelt’s presidency, and left a significant impact on the American government, as it made clear that religion had no place in the government (Hugo Black). In recent years, a larger disconnect between the church and the American court systems has been created with the nationwide

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson on Separation of Church and State

    2333 Words  | 5 Pages

    A popular notion among many religious conservatives is the rejection of what is commonly referred to as the separation between church and state. They maintain the United States was founded by leaders who endorsed Christian principles as the cornerstone of American democracy, and that the First Amendment prohibition against government establishment was not intended to remove religion from public life. As a result, a number of disputes have made their way through to the courts, pitting those ready to defend the wall of separation, against those who would tear it down. Two recent cases have brought this battle to the forefront of political debate. The first involves an Alabama Supreme Court justice, who, in defiance of a Federal judge, fought the removal of a granite display of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the state courthouse. Also, a California man has challenged the constitutionality of the phrase “under God” in an upcoming Supreme Court case involving student recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

    Read More

  • Prayer in School: One Hypocrisy of Our Democracy

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Myth of the Separation of Church and State retrieved on January 7, 2005 from: http://www.noapathy.org/tracts/mythofseparation.html

    Read More

  • Religion In William Cavanaugh's Torture And Eucharist

    1523 Words  | 4 Pages

    The modern state seeks its self-preservation above all else, and history reveals that governments are more than willing to exercise their monopoly on force and coercion in order to cement and defend their authority (5-6). Normally, unified social bodies such as the Church seek to counteract the dominance of the state through their public and political influence. However, when the Church simultaneously abdicates its political connections and powers and interiorizes itself within individual Catholics, it frees the state to exercise its will with little backlash: “Once the church has been individualized and eliminated as Christ’s body in the world, only the state is left to impersonate God”

    Read More

  • The Concept of Secularism: Walzer vs. Wæver

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    For more than a century, the concept of secularism and its boundaries has been widely disputed by secularists and non-secularists alike. English dictionaries define secularism as simply the separation of church and state, or, the separation of religion and politics. Michael Walzer, a true secularist, believes that this separation is an essential democratic value and ultimately fosters toleration of a plurality of religions (Walzer, p. 620). Wæver, an opponent of secularism, defines secularism as “a doctrine for how society ought to be designed”– that religion and politics ought to be divided in order to ensure religious liberty, as well as religious-free politics. However, he does not deem that such a principle exists (Wæver, p. 210). Based on these different viewpoints, I have established a unique concept of secularism: the principle that religion and politics be kept apart, that the state remains neutral in regard to religion, and that liberty, equality, and fraternity be upheld in an attempt to successfully promote religious toleration and pluralism.

    Read More

  • The First Ammendment and Dealing with the Separation of Church and State

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    " There is another reference to religion in Article 6, Section 3. This clause states "the United States" and the several States shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution. but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust. under the United States" http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html. For the purpose of this paper I am going to focus on the establishment of religion above mentioned in the The First Amendment..

    Read More

  • One Nation, Under God

    2046 Words  | 5 Pages

    With sounds of youthful laughter, conversations about the students’ weekends, and the shuffling of college ruled paper; students file into their classrooms and find their seats on a typical Monday morning. As the announcements travel throughout the school’s intercoms, the usual “Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance” becomes no longer usual but rather puzzling to some students. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.” Confusion passes through some of the student’s minds. With the reoccurrence of “God” in the backdrop of American life, the relationship between church and state has become of little to no matter for American citizens just as it has with American students. While congress makes no law respecting an establishment of religion, the term “freedom of religion” presents itself to no longer be the definition of “free”, while also having its effects on debates today. According to Burt Rieff, in Conflicting Rights and Religious Liberty, “Parents, school officials, politicians, and religious leaders entered the battle over defining the relationship between church and state, transforming constitutional issues into political, religious, and cultural debates” (Rieff). Throughout the 20th century, many have forgotten the meaning of religion and what its effects are on the people of today. With the nonconformist society in today’s culture, religion has placed itself in a category of insignificance. With the many controversies of the world, religion is at a stand still, and is proven to not be as important as it was in the past. Though the United States government is based on separation of church and state, the gover...

    Read More

  • Civil Liberties And Civil Rights

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    To open this discussion, I would like to start with the civil liberty of freedom of religion. This liberty was identified in my original Constitution essay through the mentioning of the separation of church and state clause. The reason for my including of this liberty, and my stressing of its importance, is that I feel that the government interprets this liberty in a one sided fashion because of the incorrect interpretation of the already in place separation of church and state clause. I also include it because I believe that recently the attacks upon religion have metastasized and tha...

    Read More

  • Religion and the United State Consitution

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today, if our government needs proof that the separation of Church and State works to secure the freedom of religion, they only need to look at the overabundance of Churches, temples, and shrines that exist in the cities and towns throughout the Untied States. Only a non-religious government, separated from religion could possibly allow such dissimilarity.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Us Constitution And The Declaration Of Independence

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his brief response, President Jefferson sympathized with the Baptists in their opposition to the state of Connecticut’s established religion. The question of this assignment is “What do you think the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution thought about the separation of church and state or about the separation of God from government?” While devoutly committed to religious liberty He deeply opposed established churches as existed in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but recognized that, as President, he had to respect them. The letter contains the phrase "wall of separation between church and state," that expressed his reverence for the First Amendment’s “wall of separation between Church & State” at the federal level. This became the short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of church and state." President Jefferson put much thought and intense scrutiny into the letter, and consulted New England politicians to assure that his words would not offend while still conveying his message that it was not the place of the Congress or of the Executive to do anything that might be misconstrued an establishment of religion. The now well-known the phrase "wall of separation between church and state,” lay

    Read More

  • Reflection on the First Amendment

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    Newdow v. United States Congress, Elk Grove Unified School District, et al., 542 U.S. 1 (2004). 2010 - 10 23. Retrieved 11 20, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_Grove_Unified_School_District_v._Newdow. Religious liberty in public life. 2010 - 24 May 2010.

    Read More

  • The Role of Religion in Politics

    2726 Words  | 6 Pages

    The role of religion in politics is a topic that has long been argued, and has contributed to the start of wars, schisms (both political and religious), and other forms of inter and intra-state conflict. This topic, as a result of its checkered past, has become quite controversial, with many different viewpoints. One argument, put forth by many people throughout history, is that religion and the government should remain separate to avoid any conflicting interests. This view also typically suggests that there is one, or several, large and organized religions like the Roman Catholic Church, which would be able to use their “divine” authority to sway the politics of a given state by promising or threatening some form of godly approval or disapproval. By leveraging their divine power, individual figures within a religion, as well as the religion as a whole, could gain secular power for themselves, or over others. A second view, which was developed by many theologians through history, suggests that that without religion there would be a general lack of morality in the people and leaders of a given state, which would give way to poor political decisions that would not be in the interest of the people and perhaps even God (or the gods). This argument, however, does not address the fact that morality can exist without religion. In sociology, it is commonly accepted that social norms, which include morality, can result from any number of things. Religion, laws, or the basic desire of survival can all create these norms, so it suffices to say that as a society, our morals reflect our desire to live in relative peace through the creation of laws that serve to help us to survive. The argument of whether or not religion and politics should mix...

    Read More

More about Separation of the State and Church

Open Document