Speaking the Truth in Love to Muslims

Church and State

I. A Cornerstone of American Freedom

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights enshrines a concept every American considers central to our democratic system of government:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What does this mean? Consider the following situations and line them up with the First Amendment. (and for extra credit, guess in which country--past or present--this takes place?)

(Answers at the end)

Quite simply, the government must stay out of the religion business. It is not to coerce anyone into any particular belief, nor is it to single out one or a group of religions to cause them hardship. It is to tolerate every religion, regardless of its creed.

In America, people generally accept the fact that a person will act out of his religious convictions. Presidential candidates (the ones this year included) are quite open about their religious views and how that has shaped their world-view. But they are also quite open to the fact that they will not establish one religion over another (or over no religion) in the United States.

II. An Imperfect Separation

There have been cases where the government of the United States has forced people of certain religions to either abandon their religious principles or go to jail.

Pick one and argue the merits. One person should be the "prosecutor" demanding the religious person obey the laws of the state. Another person should be the "defender" arguing that the person should not have to obey the laws if it goes against his religious beliefs. The rest of the class gets to serve as the jury

A. Utah Statehood

Though its Mormon pioneers had been petitioning for statehood since 1849, the United States had rejected its pleas because Brigham Young and the LDS preached and practiced polygamy. In 1887 Congress effectively ended the LDS church, taking away its incorporation. In 1890 the Mormon church president, Wilford Woodruff, abandoned the teaching of polygamy. Utah was accepted as a state in 1891.

Your arguments should center on how objectionable do a religion's teachings have to be for the state to have a right to demand it change--and who decides what is objectionable?

 

B. World War II Conscientious Objectors

During the Second World War, the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 exempted from military service those who "by reason of religious training and belief" opposed war and mandated alternative service in work of "national importance." Objectors who accepted alternative service worked in civilian public service camps on conservation projects, staffed mental hospitals, or volunteered to be human guinea pigs in government-sponsored experiments on diet, endurance, and the transmission and control of malaria, hookworm, typhus, and infectious hepatitis. Objectors received no pay or benefits and had to rely upon families and churches for support. Those who refused to register for the draft or opposed compulsory service were sentenced to prison. Most imprisoned objectors were Jehovah's Witnesses, who acknowledge allegiance to no government except to the kingdom of Jehovah.

Your argument should focus on whether the alternative service (reasonable or not) and levels of compensation (fair or not) in themselves constitute coercion by the government upon a religious group.

 

C. Christian Science Practices Ruled Child Abuse

On December 28, 1993, Governor William Weld, R-Massachusetts, signed S.219 into law. The bill made child abuse a crime and repealed a religious exemption from the criminal code. Massachusetts thereby became the third state in the nation to remove all religious exemptions from a duty to provide medical care to a sick child.

The victory in Massachusetts is an especially significant achievement in that the international headquarters of the Christian Science church is located there. It was the culmination of a long struggle dating back to 1986, when a toddler named Robyn Twitchell died in suburban Boston of a bowel obstruction because his Christian Science parents did not get him medical care.

Do parents have a right to endanger (who decides what endangerment means?) their minor children because of their religious beliefs?

 

Not so clear anymore, is it? Now we're ready to look at church and state in Islamic dominated countries.

III. A History of Church-State

From the earliest years of Islam up until 1924 the caliphate existed. Its central idea was that the leader of the nation was also the leader of Islam. The caliph was viewed as the "successor" of Mohammed.

Jews and Christians were tolerated people within the "House of Islam." They were protected from the Muslim rulers. They were taxed heavily, were not permitted to own land, could not carry weapons, had to hide the practice of their religion and could not rebuild churches or synagogues. Any Muslim converting to Christianity would be put to death.

This was the norm for over 1200 years.

Since World War I, the only democratic Moslem country with a separation of church and state is Turkey and even there, radical Islamists are agitating for sharia to become the law.

IV. A Continuing History

There is no separation of church and state in Islamic law. The religion of Islam and the government are one. Islamic Law is controlled, ruled and regulated by the Islamic religion. Islam controls all public and private matters. Government, law and religion are one. There are varying degrees of this concept in many nations, but all law, government and civil authority rests upon it and it is a part of Islamic religion. There are civil laws in Muslim nations for Muslim and non-Muslim people. Sharia only applies to Muslims.

In the 1980s the secular Shah was driven out of Iran, which is dominated by Shiite Moslems. The Ayatollah Khomeini, the Imam, became the head of Iran. The religious clerics ran the government and made the laws.

In the 1990s the Taliban seized power from feuding war (and drug) lords in Afghanistan. Mullah Omar, the Imam, became head of Afghanistan. The religious clerics ran the government and made the laws.

In Nigeria, the country is almost evenly divided north-south into Muslim and Christian. Christians still dominate the federal Nigerian government. In a notorious case in northern Nigeria, Amina Lawal, a woman who had divorced her husband, was found to have later gotten pregnant. The northern provincial Nigerian government ruled that, according to sharia, she should be stoned to death. Nigeria's justice minister has appealed the case to the Nigerian Supreme Court.

In Iraq, the leading Shiite is Ayatollah Ali Sistani. He regularly makes political speeches and has been instrumental at times in blocking and advancing American interests in getting a constitution drawn up for Iraq.

In Saudi Arabia the Mutawwa, religious police, enforce sharia. In a March 2002 fire at a girls' school, the Mutawwa refused to let the girls escape the blaze and obstructed rescue workers because the girls were not dressed in accordance with sharia dress code. Three girls who did escape the main gate were beaten by the Mutawwa. Undue delays in rescue efforts arguably caused the deaths of 14 school girls.

V. An Inevitable Conflict

The Ayatollah Khomeini popularized the term "the Great Satan" when referring to America. Guess what made him call America that.

Now that you know the right one, explain why this would make America "the Great Satan" to a Muslim.

 

Why is it so hard to extend the vote to women in Afghanistan?

 

Why is Sistani so insistent that Shiite Muslims have a majority voice in the government which will be formed in Iraq?

 

VI. A Short History of the Separation of Church and State in Christianity

The Separation of Church and State has not had a long history in Christianity and the verdict is still out even in America.

Rome (Byzantium)

In the Roman Empire, the Christian Caesar (from Constantine the Great, around 300 AD onwards) was both the leader of the state and church. They called church councils and enacted laws over the church.

This was not always good for the Christians. Many emperors became Arian Christians and persecuted or exiled true teachers of Christianity. One very famous Christian teacher, Athanasius, was exiled several times for asserting Jesus Christ was equal in every way to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Who had the upper hand--Church or State?

The Roman Catholic Church

Here are some official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

The royal power derives its dignity from the papal authority. Sicut universitatis conditor, 1198

In the Church's power are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. But the latter is to be used for the Church, by kings and captains, but at the will and permission of the priest, the former by the Church, by the priest. The one sword, then, should be under the other, and temporal authority subject to spiritual. Whoever therefore resists this power thus ordained of God, resists the ordinance of God. Unam Sanctam, 1245

Who has the upper hand--Church or State?

The Protestants: Lutherans

Cuius regio, eius religio

The ruler's religion is the religion for that region.

With this phrase the Peace of Augsburg (1555) brought to an end 100 years of warfare between the Roman Catholics and Lutherans in Germany. The religion of the region's prince would be the religion of that region. Only the Lutheran and Catholic religions were covered. Subjects were either to convert or leave the country.

Who has the upper hand--Church or State?

The Protestants: John Calvin and Geneva

In 1540 John Calvin, the Swiss Reformer, was invited back to Geneva. As soon as he arrived he set about revolutionizing Genevan society. His most important innovation was the incorporation of the church into city government; he immediately helped to restructure municipal government so that clergy would be involved in municipal decisions, particularly in disciplining the populace. He imposed a hierarchy on the Genevan church and began a series of statute reforms to impose a strict and uncompromising moral code on the city. He thought not only should all religious belief be founded on the literal reading of Scriptures, but church organization, political organization, and society itself should be founded on this literal reading.

Who has the upper hand--Church or State?

The Protestants: Prussian Union

Frederick Willhelm III in 1817 forced the Reformed and Lutheran churches in Prussia into one "Evangelical Church." Doctrinal compromise (over the Lord's Supper) was mandatory. Independent churches were permitted as Evangelical Lutheran churches formed outside of state support and governance. Shortly before 1840 this alternative to the state Evangelical Church was banned. All must become members of the Evangelical Church. Many Lutherans emigrated to the United States and settle in the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River valleys.

Who has the upper hand--Church or State?

The 10 Commandments in Alabama

In 2001, Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore had a 5,280-pound granite monument of The Ten Commandments placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore says no taxpayer money was used to purchase or place the monument. In October of 2001, the Alabama ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit demanding that the granite monument be removed. A U.S. District court judge ordered Moore to remove the monument, but he refused saying that to do so would violate his oath of office because he has vowed to uphold the law, the foundation of which is The Ten Commandments. Then the case went to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered the August 20 removal date and threatened fines of $5,000 per day for the first week with that amount doubling each week thereafter. The monument was removed.

If the Muslim says the Separation of Church and State is a recent, American invention, unknown to previous Christians, a doctrine which Americans are trying to impose upon other nations, what would you say?

 

Do symbols of Christianity, such as the 10 Commandments or a nativity scene, placed on public display on public property violate the First Amendment?

 

Do expressions of any religion, such as "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God" constitute an establishment of religion forbidden by the First Commandment?

 

Should the President of the United States take his oath of office on a Bible? On a Koran? On an Old Testament? Why? Is this a parallel with cuius regio, eius religio?

 

If the Muslim says the Separation of Church and State isn't even consistently followed in the United States, so why should it be followed in a Muslim country where the overwhelming majority of people actually agree on their religion, what would you say?

 

VII. Separation of Church and State: What Does the Bible Say?

There are relatively few passages in the Bible that speak of the separation of Church and State, but they are convincing and clear.

Read Luke 20.20-26

20Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

23He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"

25 "Caesar's," they replied.

He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." 26They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

What are our responsibilities towards government (Caesar)?

 

What are our responsibilities towards God?

 

Does Jesus show any subordination between the two (one higher than the other)?

 

If there is no subordination, then Church and State are equal in authority and power.

The next question is, Are Church and State instituted by God? Explain how Ephesians 4.11-12 shows God instituted the Church.

It was he [Jesus] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that they body of Christ may be built up.

 

Explain how Romans 13.1-3 shows God instituted the Government.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Which diagram correctly portrays the role of Church and State as set forth in the Bible? Explain your answer.

A

 

B

 

 

C

 

Answers: Saudi Arabia, France Iraq Sweden USA USA USA American Colonies Nazi Germany Soviet Union

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