State and Church

Running Head : STATE AND CHURCH

State and Church

[name of author]

[college /university]

[professor /instructor]

[date]

p A Government or Church-run school

The separation between the church and the state which is widely known as the First amendment to the United States Constitution marked the first legal barrier between two powerful institutions . By necessity both are of equal footing . The state which was created by the people and run by the people is needed by society . In a democratic country , the state is run by the people and

politicians are mere representatives of the people , Therefore it is the citizens who should have complete control over state matters . The church on the other hand was created by God (though sociologists argue that religion was created by the people to explain phenomenon that old science cannot ) and supported by the people is also a must for the spiritual well being of the citizens . The church and the state are important sectors in society

On the question of education , the state should provide education to its citizens . The state was created by the people to protect their rights by laying down laws for the best interest of the citizens . That of course is in the ideal sense however what discourages us today is that the state is plagued with corruption and various interests of certain individuals . Even so , the mere fact that the citizens pay their taxes to the government gives them the right to avail for free or subsidized education . The state owes them that . Thus , education should be given to its citizens and as citizens they should press on their rights for free or subsidized education whether they are Christians or not

Academic freedom and excellence should be practiced in any school be it a public , private or a church-run school . For this to be possible , a school as an institution should be free from vested interest from politics , big corporations , churches and other individuals . It is true that those who hold the budget of the school have an influence on how it is run . In a government schools it is the state that has larger control , in a private school it is the investors and in a church-run school , it is the church . Either way , these institutions has no business running the school because if they do so , they can manipulate the teachings in such way that are already promoting their own interest This curtails academic freedom and excellence . However , this can be prevented as long as the school administration remains vigilant and uphold their rights as educators . In a book written by Rousas John Rushdoony , he says that education is the function of the educators and not the state (Rushdoony , 1984 ) therefore education is also not a function of the church

The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF ) states that The church is a mighty force in the affairs of state . But it is so indirectly (p 251 ) WCF further stated that the church will not interfere with politics but only in the individual level . The goal of the church is to mold its members to be a good citizen that abides by the word of God . By doing so , the individuals will now be able to discern what is right and what is wrong based upon the gospel and thus , they will be able to comment on political matters . Their comments will be guided by the teachings of the church (Williamson , 1964 this is what is meant by indirectly ' in the quotation stated above . If that is the case , even if the church runs a school it should do so in a manner that they will not curtail the academic freedom and excellence of the institution

It is recognized that education is not the function of the state meaning , they have no right to manipulate the modes of instruction within a given school . However , providing affordable education through subsidies is its function because it is a universal right of every citizen . Going back to statement above that the state should guard the interest of its people , affordable and quality education is the interest of the people and it is not a case of church versus the state

The parents ' choice of school should not be limited to categories such as church or state-run institution . Rather we should take into account the educators behind the school and not the source of funding . State subsidies aim to offer affordable education . The question of quality does not lie on the funding but on the educator . It does not matter if it is a church or state-run school , what counts is that the education it offers is superior and top notch . Those are the things that parents should consider

Reference

Rushdoony , R . J (1984 ) Law and Liberty

Williamson , G .I (1964 ) The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes

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