Should Government be influenced by Religion ?

Question

Contention:
Would the lesser of the two prone to wars and provocation,
Necessarily validate (or invalidate) secular governance over theocracies ?

What are your views (either way)? (Read between the lines.)

Obiter Dictum
- Archaic religous belief is prevalent in secular doctrine. The Magna Carta was drawn up by the Church.
If religion is not the moral compass of good governance, what is to say universal conscience, collective experience, popular habits, are better and sufficient tools to direct legislation ?

Note: Say, if you were endorsed in providing perspectives and opinions of tribal war conflict like Congo and parts of West Africa, choosing the best mix of governance is perplexing.Yours truly is not advocating Religion or Secular governance.

ABRIDGED Cogents answers
karlk.. – Religion provides moral guidance to governance: freedom from slavery and civil rights movement. (In concurrence, morals arise mainly from religion and philosophy.)
cvq38.. – Religious belief is a great contributor to the American justice system. Where cultural and societal issues conflict with religious exegesis of same-sex marriage and abortion, these are the same supporters of freedom and inclusive society. Violence only serves to diminish religious importance.
my_am..– Moral issues under theological debate are common sense. Although religion and morals concur largely in purpose, one is dogma, the other is an emancipator of individual’s liberties. Both, unaccommodating and unrequiting of each other, no meaningful influence can come about.
Binde..– The influence of religion is axiomatic in its adoption by governments.

A1bea..– Never!!(Where’s a Blues wiff kilts wen ye needs one, eh??)
John P– Bush reinforces the need to sever religion from politics; Morals should form the basis.(Where are morals from?)
Danny..– Brights believe in contemporary civic understanding, free from supernatural and mystical elements, engaged in equitable civic participation by educated societies, to bring about principled action.

Zolfl..– Governance of communities with pluralistic faiths is best served with Religion sundered.
plank..– Conformity to doctrine and dogma is the life line of theocracies. Ecclesiastical abuse and authoritarian excesses are not in the interest of people. (Best left to dining at Medieval Times.)
Myste..– The French, by seperating State from Church, have attenuated problems of dogmatic religion. However, good morals emitted from religion should be applicable to all.
Felic..– Secular states separate religion from government in theory. In practice, pluralism is at risk reaching crisis proportions.

Answer 1

Interestingly enough, the 1960's era civil rights movement in America was HIGHLY influenced by Reverand Martin Luther King-whose claim was that the moral laws of God were not being carried out in the laws of America, he used the lack of equality as an example of this.

This is religion in government. Also, growth in the popular movement for Americans to free their slaves came about because most Northern abolitionists were preachers and church goers who thought slavery was a sin against man. This is why they wanted slave laws removed from their legal systems.

Religion plays a very important role, and though we may claim to govern "secularly" there is no way around the moral influence of religion.

Answer 2

I support a secular State. Religion and Government should be kept seperate.
I support the Brights I suggest you do too.

What is a bright?
A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview
A bright's worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements
The ethics and actions of a bright are based on a naturalistic worldview
Is Your Worldview Naturalistic?
Think about your own worldview to decide if it is free of supernatural or mystical deities, forces, and entities. If you decide that you fit the description above, then you are, by definition, a bright!

you can simply say so and, by doing so, join with other brights from all over the world in an extraordinary effort to change the thinking of society—the Brights movement.

Reason and Purpose
Currently the naturalistic worldview is insufficiently expressed within most cultures, even politically/socially repressed. To be a Bright is to participate in a movement to address the situation.

There is a great diversity of persons who have a naturalistic worldview (free of supernatural and mystical elements). Some are members of existing organizations that foster a supernatural-free perspective. Far more individuals are not associated with any formal group or label. Under the broad umbrella of the naturalistic worldview, the constituency of Brights can undertake social and civic actions designed to influence a society otherwise permeated with supernaturalism.

The movement's three major aims are:
Promote the civic understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview, which is free of supernatural and mystical elements.
Gain public recognition that persons who hold such a worldview can bring principled actions to bear on matters of civic importance.
Educate society toward accepting the full and equitable civic participation of all such individuals.

Answer 3

It already is. The problem with theocracies is that non comformity to doctrine, dogma and a state-fused established religion can result in serious consequences for the non believers. We could have the Medieval ages all over again. Not every one is going to want to go along with the program...will those people be burned at the stake as heritics ? A wall between church and state goes far towards protecting individual freedoms and civil rights from ecclisiastical abuse and authoritarian excess.
Who's version of God is the correct one?

Answer 4

No. Look at the problems the implimentation of Islamic Law can pose, especially if there are non-believers / other religions living within the State.

I think this is one of the things that the French have got right - by seperating the State from the church.

However, this does not mean that the State should not draw reference from some of the good morals that are emitted from religion. They just need to be expressed in a general manner so that they can apply to all creeds/races/religions/believers/non-believers.

Answer 5

I propose that the question is not a yes or no answer.
While I would agree that religion is based on a group of individuals allowing moral debate and ideas to run and influence their lives, I believe that these morals are not as much religious as they are common sense.
Religion would dictate that killing is wrong, while common sense would say that murder is wrong.
Religion would say that wars and other religions that did not conform to it's own beliefs are wrong, while common sense would say that as long as one idea did not disrupt anothers right to an idea, then it should be able to develop and prosper, so long as it did not harm another.
The main similarities between the two are that they both depend on their strength and conviction for prosperity and ultimate survival, and neither has room for the other to grow or become stronger than the other.
Both are dependent on the other being shown to be wrong for the masses, and both create conflict within themselves over matters of pure conscience, in which they depend on their power of persuasion of fear for recruit purposes.
Until they can become equal, there will never be a joining of, or need to create an influence of one FOR the other.

Answer 6

Since the Head of State is also the Head of the Church in the UK, it's very difficult to claim that the UK is a secular state. It's even more difficult for non- Christians to understand this.
In a secular state, religion and government are (theoretically) kept separate. This is not the situation in the UK and therefore, one might expect that members of other religions feel victimised and not totally accepted. This leads to suspicion and conflict which is not totally unfounded and which has now reached crisis proportions.

Answer 7

Wow thats too many long words for me, but no, I think religion and government should be separate, as government needs to be able to control a country where there are many different faiths.
There are times when government needs to take a stand in the activities of maybe a particular religion but only to make sure that the overall community is safe. Anything more controlling than that, and the two should be kept apart.

Answer 8

In America, the abolitionists were strongly influenced by their religious belief. Martin Luther King used the moral authority of his religion to influence America to grant greater justice to its citizens. We celebrate his birthday - the birth of a Christian minister - every January.

I think people are upset at religion because much of the opposition to same-sex marriage and to abortion is religion-based. And also because many are justifying horrific violence by their reading of their religion, Islam.

I assume people constantly complaining about the influence of the Judeo-Christian ethic on US government do not object to the end of slavery and segregation.

PS If we destroyed every church, mosque and temple, wherever there were still people there would still be violence.

If we got rid of all the people and kept the buildings, there would be peace.

Religion doesn't kill people. People kill people.

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Answer 10

No! Never!

Recent government in the west that have allowed them selves to be influenced by religon include Blair and Bush in deciding to invade Iraq!

Bush alone is a clear enough reason that religon should be seperate from politics.

Leader should be guided by morals rather than some archaic religous belief!