Church & State

"If a 'sphere' like religious institutions is 'sovereign' within its domain, doesn't that mean that there's no way for another sphere (the state) to intervene even in the case of (say) clergy abuse? And if so, isn't that troubling (perhaps discrediting of church autonomy)?" - Reason

Students "were told by their teacher to go to an evangelical Christian revival assembly. When students arrived at the event in the school's auditorium, they were instructed to close their eyes and raise their arms in prayer... were asked to give their lives over to Jesus to find purpose and salvation." - NPR

"The Republican governor first billed the proposal at a conservative Christian conference in Iowa last year as 'putting prayer back in schools,' but a House committee rejected the idea after education groups argued that voluntary prayer is already allowed in schools and the proposed law would have saddled teachers with an unclear mandate." - C.Leaders

"The Lord’s suffering is our example, not that we should follow the exact same kind of sufferings as he did (i.e. we aren’t called to literally die on a cross), but that we should follow his manner in our own sufferings" - Don Johnson

"The Spokesman-Review ... quoted Wilson as saying that the idea of a 'spiritual takeover' of the city originated with is dad, James Wilson, after he retired from the Navy. Wilson’s father wrote a book titled 'Principles of War: A Handbook on Strategic Evangelism'" - C.Leaders

"Americans also support some intermingling of church and state. Three in 10 said public school teachers should be allowed to lead students in Christian prayers, and 4 in 10 said it’s OK to put up Christian symbols in the public square." - RNS

"But authority holds only in its own jurisdiction.  The government holds sway over externals, the Word of god over internals.  'The civil magistrate protects not minds but bodies and goods from manifest harm.  The Gospel protects minds from ungodly ideas, the devil, and external death.'" - Veith

"In the run-up to the Chinese Communist Party’s planned celebrations to mark 100 years of its existence on July 1, churches affiliated with the government are organizing and participating in events that seek to glorify the single-party rule that has persecuted religious communities." - C.Post