Church and the State Should Be Separated - Essay Example

Church and the Should Be Separated Introduction Different individuals have defined separation of a state and church differently and there has been tremendous amount of confusion and conflict on the real definition of separation of state and religion. For example: some may argue that separation of state and religion means that the state or the government should not intervene in each other’s issue and they are two different things (Corbett 220). Others might argue that the separation of state and church should be seen in the context of law making and legislative operations. In this writing, the second meaning of separation will be used and its importance will be discussed. Different stakeholders have hotly debated over whether the state and church should operate separately or they should operate hand in hand. According to Corbett, 62% of those surveyed during a research conducted in 1995 responded that the church and state should be separated and operate separately (Corbett 223). This means that if 62% are in favor of separation, then the remaining population was either against it or had a neutral view. Those who argue against separation state that religion can provide proper guideline to state and God’s word should be followed. There is a need to separate church and the state; the church should not be involved in guiding the legal principles of the state because it: is unconstitutional, unethical, leads to inequality, leads to irrational decision making and will destabilize United States. Body Church and state should operate separately and the church should not be allowed to influence the legal operations of the state because it is unconstitutional according to the constitution of United States of America. The constitution of the US is a worded document that helps in making legal rules and regulations for the nation. The constitution of the United States comprises of a total of 10 amendments and these amendments are regards as the Bill of Rights and the very first amendments of the constitution states that the congress of the government of United States should not create laws in order to assist any particular religion (Rotunda 309). This means that if congress makes rules and regulations that favor a religious group, then they are indulging in an unconstitutional act. If congress is influenced by Christians and those who belong to churches, there is a higher probability that they will make rules and regulations that will favor only the Christians and such an act by the congress will result in an unconstitutional act. Another reason due to which church and state should be separated is that it is unethical for the church to influence the state and state’s decision making. According o the utilitarian method of ethical decision making, decisions as well as actions should be scrutinized on the basis of benefits and costs they offer to the society and those decisions or behaviors should be regarded as ethical that result in highest amount of benefits and lowest amount of costs for the society as compared to any other decision or act that may be conducted under a particular situation (Pollock 29). If church influences the state and rules and regulations of a nation, it is more likely that a very small portion of the society will benefit and that will comprise of only those who are the followers of Christianity, while people following other religions will end up suffering losses and costs. According to the statistics provided by CIA World Fact Book, there are several different religious groups residing in United States. Out of these religious groups, the majority is formed by Christians and among the Christians, 51% of people follow the Protestant churches and outnumber people who belong to other churches of Christianity and people who follow other religions (CIA World Fact Book 1). This means that if churches are allowed to make decisions or influence the decision making process in the government, it is more likely that those decisions will be made that benefit only the protestants which form the majority of the population in United States, while the minorities and the remaining 49% of the population will suffer costs and losses. Church and state should be separated because it would lead to increase in inequality among the members of the society of the United States. Inequality arises when the benefits and burdens of the society are unfairly and unjustly shared between the members of the society (Anderson 67). Due to existence of inequality only a few members enjoy the benefits of the society and others keep on baring the burdens of the society. It is already established that the major percentage of the population of United States of America follow the protestant church and if religion dominates legal decision making; only the Protestants will benefits and thus people from other churches and religion will suffer. Due to this higher level of inequality among people belonging to different groups will take place. Such events are already taking place in regions where the legislation making is highly influenced by a specific religion. Religious based inequality is not only experienced between people of different religions, it is even experienced between individuals of the same religion. For example: certain religions may see women to be unequal as compared to their male counterparts and thus legal rules based on religious believes may impact the female gender in a negative manner. For example: in the region of Saudi Arabia women do not drive because there is a ban placed on their driving by the Muslim clerics residing in the nation (McDowall 1). If church influences legal decision making environment, it is most likely that the decision will be irrational in nature. Churches are followers of the word of God and God’s word is what is written in the Bible (Leege 152). Churches believe that following the bible is the right thing to do as bible provides the distinction between right and wrong. This means that if rules and regulations governing United States are made by churches or are influenced by churches they are most likely to be irrational in nature because Bible is the word of God and making rules and regulations on the basis of word of God means that these rules and regulations will be made on the basis of what God thinks is right or wrong and not on the basis of facts and figures. This way of decision making is simply against the rational way of making decisions as proposed by choice theory. According to choice theory, decisions should be made on the basis of a cost and benefit analysis and those decisions are rational in which different solutions to a problem are available so that all the solutions can be analyzed before a decision can be reached (Parsons 87). Several examples of such irrational decision making have already been exhibited by the followers of church in different cases especially in the case of Same Sex Marriage. Authorities of Christian religion in the region of United States do not oppose Same Sex Marriage on the basis of the benefits and costs associated with it, they rather oppose it because they believe that it is against Gods will and it will be an obstacle in the operations of God (Lind 508). Destabilization of America and civil war is one of the most expensive consequences that the region may face if it allows religion to dominate legislative decision making. As stated throughout the argument that influence of religion in state matters leads to inequality as well as infringement upon the rights of several individuals, the probability of a conflict between the advantaged portion of the society and the disadvantaged portion of the society is most likely. According to conflict theorists, conflict is most likely to take place if a particular portion of the society is continuously suppressed by the advantaged members of the society because the less advantaged ones would like to snatch control from the advantaged ones (Eunson 3). Similarly, if religion influences the legal system of United States, the likelihood of infringement of various rights of individuals will increase and due to lack of rights, citizens who represent the disadvantaged groups are most likely to revolt to regain their rights. One recent example of a government that is facing a revolt due to higher influence of religion in state matters is Syria. According to Burke, the civil war in Syria has become a religious war as the Shia sect of the Muslims who support the President are fighting war against the rebels who represent the Sunni sect of the same religion (Burke 1). Conclusion Both the state and the church should be separated and the church should not be allowed to influence the state in constitutional matters because it is unconstitutional as the constitution does not allowed the government to favor any religion. Secondly, separation of both sides is important as churches involvement in state matters is unethical as it favors a few and causes damage to the rest of the society and leads to increase in inequality among different members of the society. The church is dependent on God’s words to make decisions and if they influence government matters the irrational decisions will be made and destabilization of the nation wills occurs. Works Cited "Central Intelligence Agency." The World Factbook. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. . Anderson, Elizabeth. The imperative of integration. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print. Burke, Daniel. "Syria explained: How it became a religious war." CNN Belief Blog RSS. N.p., 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. . Corbett, Michael, and Julia Mitchell Corbett. Politics and religion in the United States. New York: Garland Pub., 1999. Print. Eunson, Baden. Conflict Management. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print. Leege, David C., and Lyman A. Kellstedt. Rediscovering the religious factor in American politics. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1993. Print. Lind, Amy, and Stephanie Brzuzy. Battleground women, gender, and sexuality. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print. McDowall, Angus . "Top Saudi cleric says women who drive risk damaging their ovaries." NBC News. N.p., 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. . Parsons, Stephen D.. Rational choice and politics: a critical introduction. London: Continuum, 2005. Print. Pollock, Joycelyn M.. Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Rotunda, Ronald D.. Casenote legal briefs keyed to courses using Rotunda's modern constitutional law, ninth edition.. New York, N. Y.: Aspen Publishers, 2010. Print. Read More