Separate Church and State
Brent L. Robinson
Robert M. Forker
05 Mar 2012
Separate Church and State
Organized religion has undoubtedly played a key role in educating and civilizing local populations. It cannot be underestimated the role organized religion played in acting as the glue that binds a people together. Without attempting to place judgment on which religion holds the most merit or even the validity of religion itself, I will explain why the founding fathers of this nation saw fit to keep it separate from government they created. Although there are many forms of religion, the majority usually have four simple characteristics; 1. The existence of good and evil.
2. A set of laws and regulations that are generally based on morality.
3. Unlimited reward or punishment for adhering or failing to adhere to the tenants of the religion and
4. Living representatives who are by divine right given the authority to administer the operations on earth. The representative could be either a single person or up to an established group.
In short, Organized Religions were the first forms of government. Although it would seem logical that since they all are derived from the same sort of mold, they would interact with each other with ease. Unfortunately, that is not the case. History has shown us that rather than agreeing to peacefully coexist, the representatives on earth wage violent wars with emphasis on converting or total elimination of religions different than their own. However, there were times when the conquered peoples customs and portions of their religion would merge with their conquerors. Simply losing a war was not always sufficient to convince people to abandon their religion. The immediate belief was that they were being punished and after strict adherence and repentant period, they would rise again victorious. To nullify that effect and ease the conquered people into their new station, some religious merging was usually allowed. Though
Robert M. Forker
05 Mar 2012
Separate Church and State
Organized religion has undoubtedly played a key role in educating and civilizing local populations. It cannot be underestimated the role organized religion played in acting as the glue that binds a people together. Without attempting to place judgment on which religion holds the most merit or even the validity of religion itself, I will explain why the founding fathers of this nation saw fit to keep it separate from government they created. Although there are many forms of religion, the majority usually have four simple characteristics; 1. The existence of good and evil.
2. A set of laws and regulations that are generally based on morality.
3. Unlimited reward or punishment for adhering or failing to adhere to the tenants of the religion and
4. Living representatives who are by divine right given the authority to administer the operations on earth. The representative could be either a single person or up to an established group.
In short, Organized Religions were the first forms of government. Although it would seem logical that since they all are derived from the same sort of mold, they would interact with each other with ease. Unfortunately, that is not the case. History has shown us that rather than agreeing to peacefully coexist, the representatives on earth wage violent wars with emphasis on converting or total elimination of religions different than their own. However, there were times when the conquered peoples customs and portions of their religion would merge with their conquerors. Simply losing a war was not always sufficient to convince people to abandon their religion. The immediate belief was that they were being punished and after strict adherence and repentant period, they would rise again victorious. To nullify that effect and ease the conquered people into their new station, some religious merging was usually allowed. Though