Comments | coonkat: church and state

coonkat

church and state

Oct 01, 2006 14:45

I went to Watertown for church today - I would have been there a few weeks ago but I got lost trying to get there the last time. Have I mentioned I get lost a lot around here? *sigh* Anyway I suppose my reason for writing was this... the pastor preached on 'reaping what you sow' and he was talking about how you cant grow peace by planting ( Read more... )

Comments 4

mellanella October 2 2006, 01:02:39 UTC

For me, the separation of church and state means that the state has no right to declare a certain religion as the national religion. (Actually, there were state religions in existence until the early 1800's...I think (but not sure) that Mass. was the last state to abolish their religion as the official state religion).

I think a church history class (one that at least deals with the founding of America) will help clarify these issues and help you make sense of them for yourself.

losttruth October 3 2006, 16:59:54 UTC

This has been a question for the last two hundred and thirty years. The founding fathers were all religious. Some more than others, some even had very different views on religion. From what I understand of the writings of the founding fathers, and those that have written about them, the belief is that they did not want to deeply intermingle church and state, they had history to look back on. Many kings or queens or emperors claimed their power was a manifestation of God. Rather than chance that becoming the case here in the United States, they wrote a little provision in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights ( ... )

coonkat October 4 2006, 00:38:29 UTC

But what about letting your politics influence your religion? - ie is it okay to preach to a congregation that what our country is doing is wrong?

losttruth October 4 2006, 01:13:24 UTC

If you feel that what this country is doing violates the principles of your religion, than I would say that it is alright to preach that it is wrong. Especially if religion is being used as a basis for what is being done. We should never be afraid to speak out against what we believe to be wrong. The bully pulpit is a place of unmeasurable influence. Politics and religion shouldn't mix too much. Politics makes religion unclean, politics is secular, religion is not. Its a difficult balance to maintain. There is no easy answer to your question, but I do believe that religion influences our politics, politics shouldn't influence our religion.