Religion and the State
The very survival of a nation or civilization is dependent on the
establishment and preservation of values and the development of moral health.
Religion, through its belief system of the transcendental world, is the only
source of eternal values. There are no such things as secular values. Religion,
also, through such institutions as fasting, has a glorious record of
achievement in the moral struggle. As a consequence there is an essential
linkage between religion and the State, a linkage which the State can only
ignore at its own peril.
The modern nation-state, built on the
dual foundations of secularism and nationalism, is incapable of redefining secularism
in such a way as would permit religion to function as an effective moral force
in the establishment of a healthy social order. Similarly it finds itself
increasingly incapable of transcending narrow nationalisms to embrace a
conception of the unity and fraternity of all mankind in order that it may be
able to digest the claim of religion that moral values are not only universal
and absolute, but require a non-discriminatory application amongst the many
different peoples in the world.
To Be Continued ....
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