Economics of Religion and Public Life

Religion and Public Life

Introduction / Abstract

Religion and public life are two things which cannot be separated from each other , as they mutually depend on each other . St Paul 's work in the Old Testament is a testimony of the importance of , and the interconnection between religion and public life . In The Anglican Church the Shadow Disestablishment , William Westfall argues that `Christianity and State .is a subject of great practical importance . if religion be divorced from secular life both suffer : one become worldly , the other loses strength and fiber ' This is simply

because the will of God touches on both the spiritual things and human life , and that a good Christian will be a good subject , a good man will be a good citizen . [Van Die , 2001

. 43] Plato in his Republic posits that , the `good ' of society is used as the yardstick for measuring the `good ' in religion . [Cahn , 2001] Moreover , the Jeffersonian vision of the separation of religion from the state is also another indicator that religion has got a far impacting effect on the society . [] Today 's society is highly heterogeneous , particularly in a sound democracy such as the one witnessed in the United States issues to do with religious standardization have been hard to partake due to the ethno-social diversity that exists . Efforts have therefore been made to make the church institutionally and doctrinally entrenched in the state machineries in bid to maintain its public grasp . For instance , priests ministers , and other church officials...