One of the founding principles of the United States is separtion of Church and State, yet in the colonies religion played an enormous role in shaping the lives of all. Can religion truly be separated from political affairs, and do you think it should be? (Please be respectful in your posts!)
30 Comments
Sarah Hopkins
9/11/2009 09:40:27 am
I really don't know if religion can ever be separated from political affairs, but I believe that it should be. There has been many religious wars in the past, and they still go on today. People and nations often do not agree on what happens after death, or how we got here, but why should it matter? Everyone is different, and this includes beliefs. We should not involve religion in the decisions made for a whole country or the whole world. It would be impossible to come to a compromise; many people would not agree and they would be very angry. Instead, policies should be based on morals and should benefit the greater good.
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brian winters
9/12/2009 01:15:52 am
I don't think that religion can be separated from political affairs. Throughout history religion as played a major role in shaping and constructing are nation from the very beginning. Now a days everyone has a different type of religion in United states, but now their are all type's of arguments on this topic especially when it comes to school. For example the most popular argument is the pledge of allegiance to the flag. their has been many people that say that the words "under god" should be taken out, but it all depends on what you believe.
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Molly Gorczyca
9/13/2009 06:07:37 am
There is no possible way religion could ever be separated from political affairs. The first colonists tried separating church and state, but failed. They came to a new world to escape leaders who incorporated religion with politics, but when they settled here, they did the same thing. Their laws and how they ran their towns was based on religion. In the beginning, the only men who could vote were those who belonged to the church. Our government and laws are still based on religion today. The laws we have in place are basic moral issues that most religions teach. Our laws say killing, stealing, and other similar things are wrong. We punish people for them too. The Ten Commandments, which most religions teach, also declare that these things are wrong. Even our winter and spring vacations in school are based on religious holidays. Mail is even stopped! It is impossible to separate church and state and I don’t think they should be. Without our laws, which are just common religious moral teachings, our country would be in ruins.
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Molly Gorczyca
9/13/2009 06:09:11 am
In response to Sarah…
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Amberleigh Varney
9/13/2009 02:20:27 pm
Religion is what our country was founded on, only the most religious people were able to be apart of the government, and only church-goers were able to vote. Our national anthem states “under God” in it. I do not believe that religion can be separated completely from the government and politics. Most people are religious in some way, and religion affects your decision when voting or doing anything else throughout life. We do have separation of church and state, but only in public schools is it really shown that we do not incorporate religion into our studies.
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Ryan Howe
9/14/2009 02:33:34 am
http://virtualology.com/johnwinthrop.com/
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Taylor Dean
9/14/2009 02:35:34 am
http://www.annehutchinson.com/
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Paige Luppo
9/15/2009 05:11:37 am
I strongly agree with Sarah on the fact that religion should be separated from political affairs because there are so many contraversies and wars over it. But unfortunatly, I do not believe it can ever truely be separated from these affairs because like Amber said, religion is almost always influenced in peoples' decisions and everyday life.
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Amberleigh Varney
9/15/2009 08:49:59 am
In response to Molly,
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Austin Branchaud
9/15/2009 12:30:33 pm
I honestly hope that church and state can be separated, even if it takes many years. I know it isn't now, but I also know that it can be if we tried as a country to do it. It's the right thing to do. This would mean a major change, since many of the thinkers in the government do their thinking with their religion in mind. Using religion in politics is very limiting, because maybe the only thing stopping progress is one's beliefs.
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Ted Sharkey
9/18/2009 01:48:11 pm
Religion will always be involved with politics. Whether we like it or not, religious values skew results of many elections. For example, in our last presidential primarys, Republican Mike Huckabee may have lost the vote of many American people due to his strong religious beliefs. There is no doubt that we cannot prevent this from happening. People will always want to vote for someone with the same religious values as themselves. Especially now with such issues as abortion and the right to bear arms, religous values are the anchor of many of our laws and political decisions.
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Taylor Dean
9/18/2009 11:50:37 pm
I do think that church and state should be seperated. However, the problem with that would be to what extent can you really seperate them? When you live in a country that was founded on religious beliefs and was populated by Europeans who wanted religious freedom and toleration, of course every major document written will be based on religion. We still live by and follow these rules and turn to things like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution for Supreme Court rulings. The seperation of church and state can happen, but probably not the the extent that some people may want.
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Taylor Dean
9/18/2009 11:55:00 pm
I agree with Ted's opinion about how religion will always be involved in politics. People who are strongly fighting for the seperation of church and state, are running into problems win it comes to problems like this. In America, we have a democracy, which means that we can vote however we want to when it comes to elections. Like Ted said, people are going to vote for people who have the same opinions and religious beliefs. It's going to be a long battle if we want seperation of church and state because we have a democracy.
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Zain Bruhn
9/19/2009 06:21:50 am
I do think at some point religion and politics can be separated. This probably will not happen any time soon but i do think at some point in the future religion will either be nonexistent or too diverse for it to play any role in government. If religion were to fade away it obviously cant affect government and if it became so extremely diversified it wouldn't be able to unify in government and would probably be left out entirely in any decision making. I do believe that church and state should be separated, one mans belief should not affect another mans life.
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Zain Bruhn
9/19/2009 06:55:36 am
In response to Austin's post
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Bobby
9/19/2009 11:47:55 am
I do not think that religion and politics can ever truly be serparated. Some countries try, but there are always lawsuits and charges brought in front of the courts. I think they can be split further apart, but never completely separated. I do believe that religion should be separate from politics. In every country in the world, there are two or more religions. To make decisions based on one certain religion would not make it fair for the others.
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Bobby
9/19/2009 12:51:33 pm
Responding to Molly
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Ashley Coveney
9/19/2009 01:01:18 pm
I do not think that religion can be completely fazed out of political affairs, but I do believe that it can be brought down to a minimum. Religion of all kinds shape many people including those in political office and some of those people are very commited to their religion or gateful. So yes, I do not think religion and politics can completely separate!
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Ashley C
9/19/2009 01:04:11 pm
I agree with Taylor Dean that our country was formed by politics and that helped make our country great. Although you have the right to believe what you want it is the main reason soliders fought in the war and people stood up for the rights we have today!
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Natalie
9/19/2009 01:33:38 pm
religion can never be separated from our political affairs. we have the pleasure of exercising our own religious beliefs in America and we have to respect other peoples rights to exercise there own religious beliefs and by doing so we have to understand that everyone's world view controls the way they act in government and public life. there is no state authorized religion in America we don't have to be..christian we don't have to be Jewish etc. its not in are constitution. and i agree with molly everyone can practice there own religion. you can never separate it because are basic laws that we fallow are laws under the ten commandments. everyone has there own set of religious beliefs but where did it originate from? and like varney said who can tell us that gay marriage or abortion is wrong, it all has to do with your own set of moral beliefs and what you think is right and wrong within the law.
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Craig Judy
9/20/2009 05:49:25 am
I don't think religion can be separated from political affairs, nor should it be. When electing a president, you want to know the candidates views upon everything. This includes their belief in God. This last election, people were freaking out because they thought Obama was Muslim. Church and state will never truly be separate. If youre going to follow someone politically, you want to have as much in common with them as possible, and religion is a big part of that. Though in years to come, it may not be as big a deal, but it will still be there.
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Craig Judy
9/20/2009 05:55:52 am
In response to Ted...
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Paige Luppo
9/22/2009 12:50:52 am
I strongly agree with Craig because I to believe that church and state will never truly be separate because so many people base their decisions on their religious beliefs.
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Austin Branchaud
9/22/2009 04:16:42 am
Church and state NEED to be separated to provide room for the political mind to expand without the restraints of their 'god'.
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Gaston
9/26/2009 12:01:02 am
I do believe that church and state should be separated. Now, church and state are not and look how many problems we have. The political bodies that make up what happens in America always have their religious beliefes in the back of their head. Plain and simple it causes arguements not needed, and delayed decisions. Also the people of America should have the right to the church and state being separated.
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Gaston
9/26/2009 12:05:19 am
I agree with Bobby Although i know church and state will never be fully separated or at least not for a very long time. I still think it is only right.
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Zac lantis
10/5/2009 11:01:39 am
I believe that religion should be seperated from politics but it obviously is not at this point in our history. I believe that in our society today, we use religion in our government and it obviously is not fair to other people. I do hope that we can learn to not incorporate our beliefs into our decision making especially when it deals with our government.
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Zac Lantis
10/5/2009 11:07:11 am
I agree with Austin, religion does audit many capabilities that humans have because of the fact that if they do something then they may anger people because of other people's religion or their own religion. It clouds some judgement and i do not believe that that is healthy for our government.
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Ryan Howe
10/28/2009 06:29:44 am
Religion should not effect our political affairs. Unfortunately, there are very few of us who would vote for a president who have complete opposite views. I, for instance, would never vote for a president who believes in Muhammad and Allah.
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Ryan Howe
10/28/2009 06:31:54 am
I agree with Amber with the fact that religion cannot be completely separated from the state, for the fact that many of our decisions are based on religion.
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