How do we seperate church and state?

Question

I am a christian, however, I dont feel like it is right to base our countries foundation on one religion, or one groups beliefs. I personally don't agree with abortion, stem cell (when creating embryos for this purpose, but ok to use embryos that will be destroyed anyway) or assisted suicide (for terminally ill patients); but I also am against forcing religion on others too. Jesus never forced anyone to do or abide by anything.

Answer 1

You're a very unique and wonderful Christian.
Remember that even before God gave salvation, He gave freedom.
I think you're right, and I think that freedom OF religion depends on freedom FROM religion.

Answer 2

Unfortunately the Church and State are only separated by the writings on apiece of paper. not in truth.as those that make up the other parts of the government also go to a religion of their own and that helps them to make their choices as to what they support or not.and yes by those that contribute to their election funds.
The embryos that you speak of will be thrown out as they can only be keep for a period of time before they become useless for creating a new life. What about the unused eggs that you lose every month because they didn't get fertilized.
Abortion is a personal choice as it has always been but much safer done in a hospital than in a back alley or home procedure that has caused many deaths .which started this ruling.
wait until you face a terminal dis-ease your self before drawing any conclusions about it.
No Jesus did not. But you are trying to force us to think like you.

Answer 3

I am Rational Spirituality,

but was born into a Christian, R/C, background from which I evolved. I very much empathise with your question, and believe that you are implying the answer in it, yourself.

Jesus was a highly enlightened being that would have abhored the thought of the institutionalization of his teachings, not to say all the distortions that were introduced into the bible by people for political reasons, and the persecutions that were done whilst abusing his name, like the inquisition, the annihilation of the Cathars, the crusades, etc.

Jesus taught us more than with his words, with his example. Those who love and believe in Jesus, should live and act like he did. He lived a simple and a pure life, showed understanding and tolerance, and believed that changing the world to the better starts with changing one-self to the better, from within. The church did over the 1700 yeras of its existence the opposite.

The separation is simple. All those who genuinely carry Jesus' message in their heart should continue to do so, and they should say no to anything that their own conscience does not agree to.

My knowledge and connection with God now comes directly through my heart, and I act as Jesus would wish me to. Anyone can do that, if they want, and have the strength and the determination that is needed. Then let the church serve those who abuse it, they will be left standing alone.

You may read the concept of Rational Spirituality on the Dhaxem website. Only conveyed in February 2006, it is already a major force amongst the thinking people, and the people genuinely loving Christ.

Answer 4

the piont is that law and polices should not be based on dogma, but what is in the best intress of the people. Now abortion many may not aprove of but it should be a personal decision. Understand that people need to have opions to make a choices.
God should be something to accent to, not forced upon.
Stemcell resceach may see taboo but so was disecting dead bodies at one time. If we alow reseach in the u.s. it can be regulated, don't think other countries are not already researching this. this also aplies to other research areas. if we are to be a multi-cultural, that this must be. we are not all christain, and the pressents of such hinders unity among us. the mission of christ s convertion not tolerance. we need the state to atent to the affairs of the state no other agendas

Answer 5

Isn't it great to live in a free country? Hopefully the government will stop trying to take control of everything and ruin it. It already outlaws prayer in schools or displaying the Ten Commandments in public display. Next, the word "Christmas" will be forbidden. We are in great danger of having the liberals and the government force us all to abide by what THEY decide will be the definition of religion.

Answer 6

The Bible is clear on this one. We are first to obey God through His Word (Acts 5:29); next we are to obey civil authority (Heb. 13:17). If you are a practicer of God's Word then you live your life according to Him. You also obey civil law provided it does not contravene God's law.

When the government starts to legislate morality, you will know that church and state are no longer separate. Your church should always teach and preach from the Bible. If you believe it is wrong to take life (or the beginning of life) according to Exodus 20:13, then the issue of experimenting which human life becomes clear.

Jesus always invites us, never forces. When you read the gospels, you may notice how much emphasis Jesus put on the sanctity of life and the living; He broke up every funeral He encountered, healed the dying and resurrected the dead.

Answer 7

You can separate church and state by making your personal decisions based on your religion and making legislative decisions based on respecting an individual's right to make their own personal choices.

For example, you might think abortion is wrong because of your religious beliefs, so you choose not to have any abortions. You don't try to force this choice on other people though.

Answer 8

I have news for you, America was founded by Christian men, to be a Christian Nation. The first Chief Justice John Jay made a comment basically stating that America, being a Christian nation should seek to have Christian leaders. In 1799, SCOTUS handed down a decision, that found as a rule of law, that America is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles. This notion has been supported and upheld not only by SCOTUS but by lower federal and state courts over the last 150 years. Did you know that 52 of the 55 framers of the Constitution were active members of their churches? Some of these men, were ordained preachers of christian Churches. Noah Webster, could qoute the Bible by chapter and verse, helped frame the constitution. He so firmly believed in the significance of the Bible, that he included verses from the Bible in his dictionary.

What a lot of people fail to realize is, the phrase "separation of church and state" was never written in to the Constitution. Our fore fathers sought to free us from England so we could practice our religion free of interference from the church of England or the government. While it is a historical fact our fore fathers did not want a central state church such as was the case in England, they did not seek to deny God or the Christian faith. On the contrary, these men whole heartily believed that America could not remain free apart from Christian principles.

Lets look at historically prove facts here. Since the 1963 SCOTUS decision creating the "separation of church and state" that also removed prayer and daily Bible reading from the class room, the number one problems facing teachers today is violence of some sort. Our schools have gone from being the best in the world to one of the last. The most severe problems in school have gone from talking out of turn and chewing gum to rape, murder, and robbery. We have seen a steady increase of gun violence in our Nation's war zones a.k.a public school. In a recent poll, 122,000 kids from age 12 to 18 admitted to taking a gun to school. Think about that for a second. I wonder how many take guns to school that did not admit it. We have so miserably failed to give the last two generations a moral compass, that colleges, employers, the military, and law enforcement agencies have had to include as part of their training, classes that deal specifically with moral and ethical decisions and knowing the difference between right and wrong. Why, you might ask? Because we are trying to educate our children without a moral foundation, and it is coming back to bite us.

Democracy can only survive, when its only religion is Christianity. Otherwise, communism WILL prevail and dominate.

Answer 9

I totally agree with you.

Western countries should stop to mix religion and state. Islam should have more freedom in the Western countries because there will be more and more muslims there.

Stem cell, abortion and all those things are big sins.

Answer 10

The best we can do is to follow our own religious beliefs and not to impose them upon others. When it comes to issues like abortion, stem cell research, and euthenasia (among so many other issues) I think it is important to remember our own religious beliefs and to adhere to them in our own lives. If we are against abortion, then we should ensure that we do not have an abortion or recommend abortions to others (but recommend adoption, foster care, or other alternatives). We also make sure our families understand our positions on the issues. At the same time we value the right of all people to make choices and pray that people will receive guidance from the Divine to help them make those choices just as we seek the Divine's guidance in our lives when difficult choices arise. The value of liberty and religious freedom means that I have the ability to make choices in my personal life that are based upon my own beliefs. The line between seperation of church and state is when we have to ask ourselves "am I trying to impose my own beliefs about an issue upon others whom hold a different set of beliefs that allow this to be right whereas I believe this to be wrong?" It is a challenge, to be sure, but so long as we truly take the time to make sure that we are valuing not only our own freedoms, but the freedoms of others, then we are ensuring that seperation of church and state is possible.

I am a Hindu and there are some areas in my beliefs where they clash with Christianity or Judaism or Islam, etc. There are other areas where my beliefs are shared. Yet they are my beliefs and this is my life and the choices are mine to make. It is up to me to let my beliefs and the Divine guide me in making the choices that are put before me in my own life and to let others make their own choices according to their own beliefs. Our government should merely try to be as impartial to any one religious belief as possible and to ensure that our freedoms and liberties are secure. That our right to make the choices that we face in our lives is not trampled on or taken away from us. That is government's role. If we remember this, we will always be serving our founders' intentions that no one person, regardless of religious beliefs, should feel that one religion is being prefered by the government and that individual liberty (the freedom to make choices regarding our personal lives) is threatened by any one religion (majority or minority) is trying to impose it's own beliefs upon others.

Excellent question. Peace be with you.

Answer 11

you got a lot of questions here under one heading

The USA for political reasons and to increase the control over the public is heading for a one church state,and a persecution of minority groups
this wil make waging war against the world easier

bombing thousands of women and children to my way of thinking is a little bit worse than aborting unwanted or defect children.

in my country uethanasia is legal and accepted

Whenever religion became mixed up with politics ,war has been the result,check history

the solution,i dont know ,to say discredit God ,undermine his authority and power,would be unfair to the people that believe in this

but life is unfair ,truth does not reign,the reality is that we are stuck with the illuminati that has governed this planet for 6000 years ,and their main tool is all organised religion ,this wave is far to big to contradict

maybe living in isolation is the answer ,but isolation is becoming rare it self.

and until we got economy space travel we have to deal with our fate as it is written (for now)

I wishfull think that the Meek will still inherrit the earth ,but i doubt that i will still be alive when they do .
but it is a nice light in the far end of the tunnel to focus on
so that is my quest,i am sticking to being nice to Nature
because that is the best part of our inherritance.