Why do we have separation of church and state ?

Question

I just want some opinions about and what would be the consequences if we merged the two

Answer 1

We don't actually have it, its not written anywhere in the Constitituion its just assumed. In the middle ages, leaders would use the church as a claim to power. Now a days people use 'seperation of church and state' to allow there sick immoral goddless lives to be legal, and thats just how it is.

Answer 2

Your Founding Fathers wanted not to have a state religion. In this way all religions could practice freely and no one religion could control the government. Unfortunately, I'm not to certain that this is not being threatened by the present administation. The idea was to prevent a theocracy such as Iran or Saudia Arabia. In 1776 The Church of England controled England. France, Italy, Spain and others came under Rome. What would happen, I would imagine a disaster. As much as Christians hate Muslims, they deep down merely tolerate each other. Hope I was some help. In Canada, we have no official stand on it, so we get Good Fri., Easter Mon, as holidays.

Answer 3

The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Based on our Founding Fathers experience with England, more specifically, the Church of England, they didn't want a theocracy. The First Amendment says nothing about praying in public schools or having the word God in the pledge of allegiance. These interpretations of the First Amendment fall short of the U.S. Government establishing a religion. Do you really want our government to establish a religion? I can't think of anything the government touches that they don't totally **** up.

Answer 4

If we merged the two, we would have a theocracy. Separation of church and state so the state cannot tell the church what to do and vice versa.

Answer 5

I believe our forefathers did not want what they had in England and other Eurpean countries where the government chose the religion and everyone must follow their lead. They wanted a nation where all of the people were free to worship or not worship who and what they chose. In my opinion, the seperation between church and state has been carried further than they intended. Now it's more like freedom from religion.

Answer 6

We have separation so that all citizens, no matter what their religion, can vote and run for office and have a say in what their government is doing. If only one church or a particular group of churches had total control over government, then the rights of all other religions would be in great peril.

Answer 7

the us constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion. if we merged the authorities of church and state, there would be a struggle of religious will verses political power. there would be no way to determine which religion should have power. people would be forced to practice against their own beliefs, and the us would essentially be almost like a communist nation in the sense that citizens would have no choice of religion and may not share the same benefits of those who choose to practice the state-designated religion.

Answer 8

Because the founders of this country came here due in part to religious oppression. The following from Wikipedia:

Theocracy is a form of government in which the divine power (nowadays one god) governs an earthly human state, either in person (e.g. as incarnation in a human) or, more often, via its religious institutional representative(s) (e.g. church, temple, mosque), either replacing or dominating the organs of civil government as clerical or spiritual representative(s) of god(s).

And they did not want to see others have to suffer under the same ideology that they were under in Europe.

Answer 9

What religion do you have in mind to merge? Your answer would give you the consequences or problem.

Answer 10

We have a separation of C&S so we don't have a state religion, where everybody has to be of a particular religion.

The consequences of merging would be like what we saw in the middle ages--torture, burning at the stake, and wholesale slaughter of anyone who wasn't a "Christian." We'd have something similar to what we have in all Muslim countries--either you're Muslim or you're persecuted (or killed).