Government and Religion
We see how religion and the monarchy were at odds during the Renaissance time period. Now many people say that those two topics are taboo. Do you think that government and religion can exist in harmony? Give examples of past or current situations where you feel that the government or a religion has overstepped its bounds? Or present a case where the two have or can remain in harmony in a country? What do you think?
Government and religion can exist in harmony without a doubt. Historically, our nation was founded on principles of Christianity. Though, it is not wise for the government to impose a religion, because that will that display hypocrissy (as in the case of the Puritans). However, Government can uphold religion in its principles, and probably should to prevent its population from deteriorating into immorallity as the Romans did. Such immorallity can actually lead to the downfall of a nation.
I think that government and religion can exist in harmony. I think that the time when they wanted to put the 10 commandments in the court house was stepping overboard. I also think that when people are forced to do the pledge to the flag that is is overboard. I pledge to the flag everyday, but some people do not believe in god so they do not do it. I believe you should have the choice. If people compromised and would allow othere people to believe what they want to believe there would be less fighting. On the most part religion and government can exist together and function without problems.
Everything going on in Iraq shows that it is very difficult for a government and religon to work together. They can work well together but if the people who live in that state can not agree then this creates major problems. That is one of the reasons that the Iraq war has been going on so long, is the fact that the people just cant agree with each other.
I think government and religion can exist in harmony. Our government has major ties to christianity, and we seem to be doing fine. I think if the government includes a specific religion to a certain degree and starts to restrict the freedom of other religions, there can’t be any harmony. When the pope told everybody what to do in the Renaissance period, that is an example of government overstepping its bounds.
I think that historically, government and religion have both attempted to exert power and control over people, at least to some degree. There will always be disagreements between what is morally correct because religion holds certain moral standards for its followers.
I think Government and Religion can exist separately in harmony but they can’t be put together. If you look at the current situation in Iraq, you can see clear examples of this. The increase in violence is based on the fact that the Sunnis don’t want Shiites and Shiites don’t want Sunnis to control the government. I think governments should be founded on ideals but not mixed together with religion.
I feel that the government and religion can and should exist in harmony. For many people, the thought of putting government and religion into the same context arouses many concerns. There are numerous varieties of people living in this world and each of these people have their own religion and views on society. I feel that religion must be apart of our country in order for it to stay moral and follow strong standards.
I think, based on history, that government and religion cannot exist separated. We see how Henry VIII ruled by creating the protestant form of Christianity, and how his children ruled according to either Catholicism or Protestantism. We saw Mary earn the title of “Bloody Mary” by killing numbers of Protestants. In a country that was founded with the idea of God, I am tired of hearing arguments such as whether “under God” should be deleted from the pledge. However, such arguments will always exist because not everyone can be pleased and government and religion cannot exist separately.
I do think government and religion can exist in harmony. The Framers of our constitution believed in Christianity. And I strongly agree with Jim’s comment. Our nation will continue into a downward spiral without Christianity. A somewhat current event is when the pledge of allegiance was under fire because an atheist did not want to say under god during the pledge. How ridiculous is was that?
Religion in and of itself is fine, much as government, and the two can indeed coexist. However, religion is often used as the means by which to gain power and influence the people. It is a tool which, in the wrong hands, can bring about social and political upheaval.
It is very important to understand that the state itself has no ties to Christianity or any other religion, nor were we founded on the principles of Christianity, and that is much to our benefit; we were founded by a nation of those who no longer wanted to be ruled by kings, popes, or any other such influences. While the nation is most decidedly Christian, the state which represents it makes itself separate from religion, so that it may be seen as impartial both to the citizenry and foreign lands.
The church itself for which the Renissance came in opposition to was not so much a religious entity as it was a political entity which was forced to exert its control over Europe so that it might survive this period of rapid change. While I can’t vouch for Henry VIII, I do appreciate that he did establish the Church of England, allowing for a greater degree of religious freedom in western Europe that hadn’t been seen in quite some time.
As for Iraq, it would be difficult to say that the conflict itself is one based on religion. While the turmoil has made for a perfect staging ground for the expansion of the dominion of one faction of Islam as opposed to another, numerous political and economic factors – both internally and externally – are to blame for the chaos that has been created.
And, regarding the Roman empire, immorality was precisely that which they sought to fight against throughout their existence. On a side note, they at least they made an attempt to appease the gods of their enemies before they crushed those deities’ followers.
No, i don’t think that Government and Religion can exist harmoniously. They both want power over you, and they wish to control or at least they use to a long time ago. Also the government here in America has complete control and whatever the church does to try and gain power it is simply shut down, because usually the government knows whats best for the people.
I do believe that government and religion can live in harmony. Most goverments and religions have the same ideals in ways to act. I think a problem that societies have with religion in their goverment is that one radical minority person makes a big deal out of nothing. Like having the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. No where does it say that we pledge or allegiance to a Christian God but the minority belives that they are being forced to pledge allegiance to their country only through the power of a Christian God when all other religions have a God to. What they need to do is have the mind set that when they say the pledge of allegiance that they are saying “under God” in the name of their God or person that he or she follows.
According to the Constitution of the United States of America, an American has the choice to any religion he wants. If the government were to get involoved in religion that would be against the Constitution and therefore would not get across well with most Americans. For example, if the government were involved in religion there could possibly be limitations set upon what religions could be worshiped, and that just cannot happen in a land that was founded upon principles of freedom and choice.
I believe that government and religion can exist in harmony. Our country was established upon the principles of religion and we would not exist without it. America is a place where people have a freedom to choose whichever religion they like. This freedom is allowed through our government and shows how important religion is. I think that the way Sadaam Hussein treated his citizens was a step too far in the wrong direction. The government should not be able to take the life and liberties of its citizens based on personal beliefs. This shows that our society is not perfect, which also proves that sometimes religion may not exist with government in harmony.
I think that at times government and religion together can work, but many times it does not. Religion is a very sensitive subject for many people, so basing the way a country is governed on one specific belief system may offend a lot of people, especially in a country as diverse as the U.S. Overall, I think that there should be a good separation between government and religion.
In a diverse nation, such as America, it is almost difficult for the two to coexist together in harmony. I feel currently with gay marriage and abortion, both issues include religion and government. In the US where there is so many different people with diferent religions, its hard to say you cant do this because thats not what i believe. I believe there should always be a separation of church and state and with that they can separately exist in harmony.
As much as we like to think our government does not have religious ties, we cannot deny that christianity has played a major role in the creation of the United States. Our country was created by a bunch of bible loving christians, who felt that their religious beliefs would not interfere with the development of our country. Over time we have learned that the separation of church and state is vital to our country and what we stand for, and therefor we have weeded out some of the more ecclesiastical parts of our federal government.
I think that government and religion can exist together in harmony. Of course, there will always many that don’t agree, but overall I think government and religion have to be mixed in order to keep the nation from falling into immorallity, leading to the downfall of a nation. I think the government overstepped its boundaries about the whole argument of taking out ‘under God’ from the pledge. People have the freedom to choose this and not everyone will EVER be satisfied about an issue; it’s just a fact of life, especially when mixing both religion and government.
As much as I would like government and religion to exist in harmony, I dont think it will ever happen. Today, so many people hold different beliefs and feel so strongly in them that they refuse to obey the rules of other religions. When I think of this topic, the first thing that comes to mind is the Ten Commandments situation that happened in Montgomery (i think). The United States has become so politically correct that people are more concerned with offending others than sticking to the beliefs that this country was founded on.