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Let us examine the history of Relation between state and Church.
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The
separation of church and state is a philosophic and
jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between
religious organizations and the
nation state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a
secular state (with or without legally explicit church–state separation) and to disestablishment, the changing of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state.
For centuries, monarchs ruled by the idea of
divine right. Sometimes this began to be used by a monarch to support the notion that the king ruled both his own kingdom and Church within its boundaries, a theory known as
caesaropapism. On the other side was the Catholic doctrine that the
Pope, as the Vicar of Christ on earth, should have the ultimate authority over the Church, and indirectly over the state. Moreover, throughout the Middle Ages the
Pope claimed the right to depose the Catholic kings of Western Europe and tried to exercise it, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, such as was the case with
Henry VIII of England and
Henry III of
Navarre.
The concept of separating church and state is often credited to the writings of English philosopher
John Locke (1632–1704). According to his principle of the
social contract, Locke argued that the government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he argued must therefore remain protected from any government authority. These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, along with his social contract, became particularly influential in the American colonies and the drafting of the
United States Constitution.
The first amendment to the US constitution says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion to another . . . in the words of Jefferson, the [First Amendment] clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and State' . . . That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.
"Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief, but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order." In
Reynolds v. United States (1878), the
Supreme Court found that while laws cannot interfere with religious belief and opinions, laws can regulate some religious practices (e.g., human sacrifices, and the now obsolete Hindu practice of
suttee). The Court stated that to rule otherwise, "would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government would exist only in name under such circumstances." In
Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940), the Court held that the
Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applied the Free Exercise Clause to the states.
While the right to have religious beliefs is absolute, the freedom to act on such beliefs is not absolute.
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