Separation Of Church And State - 1717 Words

Separation of Church and State Separation of church and state has long been regarded as a foundation of American democracy. At the same time, the concept has remained highly controversial in the popular culture and law. Much of the debate over the application and meaning of the phrase focuses on its historical antecedents. The reason I chose this specific topic is due to the fact I’m a devout Christian and I also have strong interest in political science. In this paper I will briefly explain some of the approaches of several philosophers handling this peculiar subject. Such philosophers are Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes tried to find a way out of this labyrinth. Traditionally,†¦show more content†¦It also made sense to assume that when man speaks about God he is really referring to his own experience, which is all he knows. According to Hobbes, fear. Man’s natural state is to be overwhelmed with anxiety, â€Å"his heart all the day long gnawed on by fear of death, poverty, or other calamity.† He â€Å"has no rest, nor pause of his anxiety, but in sleep.† It was no wonder that human beings fashion idols to protect themselves from what they most fear, attributing divine powers. And the unbearable dynamics of belief don’t end there. For once we imagine an all-powerful God to protect us, chances are we’ll begin to fear him too. Hobbes reasoned that these new religious fears were what created a market for priests and prophets claiming to understand God’s unclear demands. It was a harsh market in Hobbes’s time, with stalls for Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinists, each with his own path to salvation and design for Christian society. They disagreed with one another, and because their very souls were at stake, they fought. Which led to wars, which led to more fear; which made people more religious. Fresh from the â€Å"Wars of Religion†, Hobbes’s readers knew all about fear. Their lives had become, as he put it, â€Å"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.† And when he announced that a new political philosophy could release them from fear, they listened. Hobbes planted a seed, a thought that it