Seperation of Church and State

During the past semester in this class I have heard a lot of new ideas and opinions which have impacted my beliefs on many different issues. One of the most significant changes I feel I have made is on my opinion of separation of church and state. While reading the assigned material I came across a statement that really made me think about this topic.

“However fraught with discord and even violence is the relation between a nation’s religion and political authority at any particular time, a deeper, more complex reconciliation between them is being worked out in the process.” (Lilla 184)

In my opinion what is trying to be stated here is that a nation’s religion and political authority will always have differences and problems but together they are working together to create order between their nations citizens. Both religion and government can create order and obedience and therefore are working towards a common goal. In this way a connection between church and state may not be such a bad thing. If they had a relationship with each other they would be able to coordinate with each other and try to achieve this goal together. The problem is when their goals are not exactly the same, and also when more than one religion is involved, conflict emerges. In most cases government and religion are working towards a common goal of obedience and proper conduct, so this is the less common problem, but it does make the more extreme group upset with the others practices resulting in conflict and/or violence. The problem of more than one organized religion being practiced within the domain of one political system is much more common in today’s world. With immigration being heavily practiced, and the expansion of different religious groups within a single society, most countries include many different religious or non-religious groups. This is where many problems arise. Most religions have different practices and beliefs. Because of this each one has its own goals it hopes to achieve with its followers. When the local government is involved they each fight with one another as well as the government to reach these goals. In this case it is important that the government have no connection between any one religious group. When the government keeps a separation of church and state it will be more successful at implementing its goal of law and order. I feel this separation of church and state can be seen to some extent in the United States. The U.S allows freedom of speech and religion and treats each faith equally, at least in theory.

Before I used to believe that it was a good thing to allow one faith, Christianity, to be connected with the U.S government in order to work together to maintain order and work towards a common goal of peace and unity. I have now come to believe that with the vast number of different beliefs held by American citizens this would only cause problems. I now believe that the most peaceful and proper way is to keep full separation of church and state, even more so than currently exists in America.

And we all love to watch the clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiZcKomzHaU