Why is it important that the church and state remain separate?

Answer 1

The spearation of church and state, as envisioned by the founding fathers of the United States, was to prevent the government from endorsing one sect over another such as exists in England and in most other countries. If, like in England, the monarch is the head of the official church and defender of the faith, or worse, if a political leader is beholding to decisions made by a religious authority in another country, two very negative things can occur. First, the sovereignty of the country is compromised and second, those individuals who don't belong to the official church stand to be discriminated against in potentially every facet of life and society.

That said, the founding fathers NEVER envisioned political leaders to not be people of faith, nor did they ever envision a time when religious symbology could not exist in public spaces. At least one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was in the clergy and clergymen have served in political office ever since. Every session of Congress is opened with a benediction. Senators and Congressmen have read the Bible on the floor of their respective houses.

The first amendment to the constitution guarantees all Americans freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.

Answer 2

Because there are awful times in history where the church and state have essentially become one in the same, and then you have the state and /or the church basically becoming a dictator, dictating to people what they can and cannot believe. And if they don't then they'll be murdered. It is a tyrannical and oppressive situation and should not be tolerated by people of any faith or way of life. It's why people in Europe escaped Europe during the 1500s to the 1800s and came to the Americas to escape religious persecution. The religions of Europe at that time were state supported and in some cases like the Roman Catholic Church in Spain were strong enough to dictate to the monarchy what it would do, in that case, kill thousands of innocent victims in the name of religion during the Spanish Inquisition. Today we have the same situation where radical fundamental islam takes control of the such governments as Iran and has attempted to take control of Iraq and Afghanistan leading to genocide and killing anybody they didn't happen to like at the time. If you keep religion and government separate from each other, you can prevent tragedies like this from happening.

So that, -=MuZiCiAn=-, is most of why it is important that the church and state remain separate, so we can prevent the tragedy of state or religion approved murder and persecution,

OK?

Answer 3

Iran...need I say more?

If I need do so...the "Government" of the country is a group of puppets controlled by the mullahs, and each mullah has his own agenda, and most of thos agendas are only loosely related to Islamic tenets and beliefs.

Generically speaking, a Preist is a Priest, is a Preist. You find the odd one that is genuinely interested is helping people, and doing so with no expectation of personal advancement. The rest are either of criminal tendency (the recent scandals throughout the Catholic church is a good example), or pure political animal interested in his own advancement and personal power at the expense of anyone & everything else. From all reports, the mullahs in Iran appear to fall into the last two catagories. Shame really.



EDIT!!!
Folks...Separation of Church and State has NOTHING to do with keeping the State out of the Church.
It solely has to do with keeping the CHURCH out of the State.

Answer 4

The only way to have true religious freedom is for the government to be completely impartial on the subject. When we were a British colony, there were religious tests you had to pass to hold various governmental positions, and some of the colonies enforced rules saying you had to be a member of a particular church and hold particular beliefs of face exile (and in a few cases, execution). Many colonists came here specifically because they couldn't practice their beliefs in their original countries, so they wanted to be sure that didn't happen again here.

Answer 5

that's between the main crucial issues. each and every of the persons living interior the comparable u . s . a . have not got the comparable non secular ideals or could be agnostics. All whether, in spite of their creed or innovations ought to have the prospect to stay to tell the story equivalent words. it fairly is obviously no longer the case whilst a faith is area of the government. We see it right this moment in fundamentalist muslim countries and have considered this is the previous in catholic countries during the Inquisition, whilst even the King ought to no longer preserve his difficulty from the grip of the church. Freedom of perception and expression are 2 of the fundamental rights of each and every man or woman and no government or non secular enterprise ought to have the skill to take those faraway from us.

Answer 6

The separation of church and state will guarantee real religious diversity and pluralism. People noted that throughout history, unions of religion and government have tended to foster oppression, not freedom.

Answer 7

Because Jesus commanded his followers to be 'no part of the world.'

Really, when you see the impotency of the politicians, WHY would you WANT to get into government?



communism has killed WELL OVER ONE HUNDRED MILLION in the past century.... Hitler (a national socialist) Stalin (soviet socialist) Mao (communist) Pol Pot (communist)..... HOW MANY did you say religion killed?

i am NOT in ANY WAY condoning christendom's part in bloodshed... Revelation tells just what will happen to the harlot Babylon the Great that is committing fornication with the kings of the earth. False religion will get her due. but really, take some time and READ a history book (NOT the politically incorrect stuff they're brainwashing kids with today)

Answer 8

Because then laws get put into effect favoring a specific religion causing conflict in the nation. Also, if someone comes to power who is a religious nut(in a bad way) and decides to use religion to get people to cause wars and the like it's just bad.

Answer 9

Go to the Middle East. They don't have seperation. Let me know what you think.
When you let religion into govt, you open the door for govt to get into religion. You might think that's fine now, while there are Christian in office, but that won't always be the case. If a muslim, or a pagan got into office, I promise you, you might start to care a whole hell of a lot.

Answer 10

So the state wouldn't dictate, and tell the church what to do. It is why we have freedom of religion in this country.