Government VS church

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07 May 2009

Government vs . Church

Introduction

Since the earliest time of America , the issue of separation between state and church has been the subject of the hottest legal , moral , and ethical debate . Given the impact which religion produces on hearts and minds of the American people and the Christian roots of all major laws and initiatives in the United States , it is understandable that the country has been persistently trying to find the most relevant balance between the concepts of

religion and the concept of government . Now , as so many years have passed since the Declaration of Independence was made public , we still argue on whether it was designed to create a wall of separation between church and state or whether it had to establish a new religious society in America . Nevertheless , the current constitutional separation of church and state in the U .S . is the example of how the state can effectively expand the range of individual freedoms and provide religious adherents with the right to openly express their views without facing the risks of intolerance or abuse

The history of separation between church and state dates back to the times of Ancient Greece , when Socrates was condemned for not believing in the gods of the state and teaching the young different knowledge about different gods (Pomeroy Burstein 323 . This accusation was increasingly unusual and unexpected for Athens : Ancient Greece did not have any constitutional principles that would separate church and...