inthesomeday
Immortan
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2015
- Messages
- 2,798
Most people around here aren't really comfortable speaking beyond capitalism, so let's have a discussion about something that I've thought about recently that is more in tune with classical liberal thought; in fact, one of the most important and defining ideas thereof.
What exactly is the separation of church and state? Is it possible, especially in the type of environment in which the idea first developed, in which the church had near absolute power over every aspect of the average person's life? What is the use of this idea; if the church itself is completely abolished, and the state takes over its duties, what is the functional difference, and why does the classical liberal thought prefer the state's authority to the church's authority if they function the same way?
If the state is shown to derive its power from the implicit and explicit force of a ruling class, and the church is shown to derive such from the same, but both claim a demonstrably false mandate (God and popular sovereignty), what is the difference in the authority of each?
What exactly is the separation of church and state? Is it possible, especially in the type of environment in which the idea first developed, in which the church had near absolute power over every aspect of the average person's life? What is the use of this idea; if the church itself is completely abolished, and the state takes over its duties, what is the functional difference, and why does the classical liberal thought prefer the state's authority to the church's authority if they function the same way?
If the state is shown to derive its power from the implicit and explicit force of a ruling class, and the church is shown to derive such from the same, but both claim a demonstrably false mandate (God and popular sovereignty), what is the difference in the authority of each?