Religion in Civil Government?

RELIGION IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT

Have religions played a role in governments in history or did they believe in the separation of church and state America does? What do you suppose the effects were or would be regarding government of these cultures?


Sometimes the best and most accurate way to understand any perspective would be to read the quotes of philosophers in the age in which they lived to understand their history.

Quotes like:

“It is not personal but civil righteousness with which we are immediately concerned; not religion as it achieves salvation of the soul but religion as it exalts a nation.”

“Governments and civilizations of all people are typed and determined by the character of their religions whether the religion is true or false. The mightiest thing in a nation’s heart is its religion.”

“Men’s thinking in the political field is in great part to his convictions related to his spiritual field.”

Rousseau quoted: “Never was a state founded that didn’t have a religion for its basis.”

“All civil institutions of the ancient world were the outgrowth of religious beliefs. Nations were governed as gods directed, kings ruled, judges gave opinions, soldiers fought, generals planned and all gave great reverence to their deity.”

The Roman Empire whether pagan or Christian from Romulus to Charlemagne never thought to rule without seeking guidance from their divinity. Both heathen and Christians have regarded religion as the basis of their commonwealth as a soul condition of national existence.

Plutarch, Plato’s most diligent disciple stated: “There was never a state created by Atheists- You will never find a city without God and prayer at its foundation.”

Napoleon quoted: “Religion as a national force is a mystery of social order- One can’t govern without it otherwise the dignity and independence of a nation are disturbed at every moment.”

Lord Erskine, England’s greatest constitutional attorney when speaking of the Christian religion said: “Depend upon it, the world could not be held together without it.”

Men such as Plato, Plutarch, Napoleon, Rousseau, Kishub Chunder and many others acknowledged the fact that without Christianity as the cornerstone of civil government there would be a lack of morality, social order and corruption at every level.

They understood that Christianity was not only to save men but man, not teaching so much about how to die, but how to live as members of society. Did our elected officials in early America understand the importance of religion in government and the reverence they had for God to bless and protect this new nation, proof can be found in the establishment of every state constitution in America for example:

“Georgia 1777: We the people of Georgia relying on the protection and guidance of Almighty God do ordain and establish this constitution.”

They believed that banishing the bible from the land would allow people to loose their minds causing the experiment in self government to be a failure. Knowing political atheism would produce political anarchy in addition to a nation without a conscience, that it will know no rule of right but only by might and that it would pervert the law into license and make authority and cruel tyranny synonymous.

The destruction of religion would be the destruction of morality and the ruin of the state. These men understood that civil government required support from religious liberty and will not prosper without it, citing that ‘they would be no different than brute beasts.”

“Civil governments and their administrations differ as religions differ.”

It can be said that all governments of all non-Christian countries are despotic and without spiritual liberty there can be no civil freedom.

Some great examples are the “reign of terror.” It was considered one of the bloodiest chapters in France’s history with its continual revolutions just after the National assembly past a resolution declaring that “There was no God.”

In other countries, the despotisms of the East are not accidents but legitimate results of the Koran, The persecutions of Christians by Nero in Rome were despotic until the church triumphed over the state and freedom began to be re-established. Japan, China, and India are the social and political expressions of their religions, molding thought, legislation and public policies. The Koran has a monarchy and a corrupt oligarchy which are a despotic combination where the ruling of the country is in the interest of only a few people.

Regardless of any religion the story is much the same, heartless tyranny, suffering slaves fetishes, idolatries, and oppressive traditions none that offer the individual liberty of Christianity.

It was quoted that “If political freedom is desired it is important to look to the states like Holland, England and Scotland, for they are the ones who have known and believed in the Christian religion as the cornerstone of their governments and the prosperity and blessings that come from the faith in Jesus Christ.”

“The social and political force of any religion is measured by the strength of the family and the rights of the individual.” That every religion must be measured by the man it produces…As is man so is his religion and is his religion so is the nation.”

Lets look at some examples:

BUDDHISM:
Paralyses personality by preaching annihilation.
To know misery and to escape
Demands reduction in powers of affection and
To achieve “the ultimate state of non-existence.”

Their mantra:

“Know that, whatever thou has been, tis something better not to be.”

CONFUCIANISM:

Creates impoverished personality
Stating that religion is a reflection, it
Opposes progress
Teaches nothing regarding mans relation to God.
Lifeless, spiritless,
Nothing to develop virtues
No stimulation or aspiration to satisfy spiritual hunger.

China’s combination of Confucianism and Buddhism, have been responsible for it’s changeless past, sitting by by the grave, emulating the dead and dwelling among the tombs.

Their mantra:

“There is no future but the past.”

HINDUISM:

Degrades personality
Suppressing development of individual character,
Brutalizing conscience
Destroys moral distinctions
No sympathy or compassion
Hardening the heart
Intensifying selfishness

Hindu’s also have no social unity or national sentiment.
They believe that people cannot rise higher than the conceptions of the gods they worship.

For example, what would it be like to never rise higher than:

VISHNU: Who has four arms, who is half bird, half man and part serpent
or
SIVA: Monster with three eyes, riding naked on a bull wearing a necklace of skulls.


ISLAM:

Enslaves personality
Demands intellectual slavery
Domestic slavery with harems
The state enforces religious and civil slavery
No individual rights

The Koran offers a premium for war, the highest rewards for killing the most infidels.
“The end justifies the means”allowing deception, lying, persecution. The commerce suffers and the harvests cease as the famines become more prevalent. This is considered the largest religion of intolerance and persecution of others who are not in line with Islam.

CHRISTIANITY:

Promotes individual liberty, dignity and unalienable rights
Every human soul has intrinsic value
Cries advance and to move forward acknowledging His love for us and our love for others.

The doctrine that the state must guarantee the protection of life, along with the dignity, moral worth, national and individual conscience and the concept of international law are all Christian concepts unlike that of kings and priests who believe they owned the people our culture lives on the premise of the universal brotherhood.

Plato said: “A religion that fails to purify the home is powerless to elevate a nation.’

Wendell Phillips quoted: “The answer to Shasters is India, the answer to the Koran is Turkey, the answer to the Bible is the Christian civilization of Europe and America, Romanism to Spain and Mexico and Atheism to the “reign of terror” in France, the “Commune in Paris” and the moral decline of any nation of which has become tolerant of the establishments of it’s principles.

When one views the history and cultures of other nations, can our American Christian heritage and it’s influence in civil government really be denied?

The nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.
Isaiah 60:12