The Problems with a “Confessional State”
“Some Christian nationalists are calling for a ‘confessional state, ‘establishing Christianity as the national religion that steers the government…. Notice that all state churches are now theologically liberal in the extreme and that all of the ‘confessional states’ of Europe are now secularist to the extreme.” - Veith
I watched this interview with Doug Wilson yesterday. He has a different perspective than what is described here.
It’s almost like these ideas have never been tried before.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
One thing I'd have expected Veith to mention is that after the Peace of Augsburg and the Treaty of Westphalia, princes did indeed choose the religion for at least the non-Jewish and non-free church subjects in their principality, and the end result was Lutheranism and Catholicism so watered down that Spener responded with pietism--"pastors" were keeping mistresses and the like.
It strikes me, along those lines, that the character traits of a ruler--often lust for power--are diametrically opposed to the character traits required for a pastor--service and humility--and we forget that at our peril.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
>>It strikes me, along those lines, that the character traits of a ruler—often lust for power—are diametrically opposed to the character traits required for a pastor—service and humility—and we forget that at our peril.<<
Agreed. Or maybe I should say: Aha! We’ve fallen victim to one of the classic blunders regarding leadership. The most famous is “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But a 2nd quote from the same source is only slightly less well known — “Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”
Even the early history of the Children of Israel shows that they could not handle government under a direct theocracy. Governments today are certainly no better. The problems of government won’t be solved until Jesus Christ himself rules. Until then, I certainly don’t want religion (my faith) under any civil government.
Dave Barnhart
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