tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post852554826421461153..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: Waldman: "James Madison Understood Religious Freedom Better than Jefferson Did"Brad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-86158578037352160632019-09-16T15:14:28.309-06:002019-09-16T15:14:28.309-06:00"The number, the industry, and the morality o..."The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State."<br /><br /><br />This is, however, a completely different matter than what the Freedom From Religion folks are up to. The separation of church and state is to keep religion safe from the state, not the other way around.<br /><br /><i>How was the right kind of religion to be encouraged? For Tocqueville, the best means of doing so was the separation of Church and State, as practiced in America. A government-sponsored religion risked the discredit of religion once the government became unpopular, as all governments must in time. He thought that the real reason so many French democrats hated Catholicism had nothing to do with Catholic religious doctrine, and everything to do with the fact that Catholicism had been so closely identified with the monarchy that was overthrown by the French Revolution.</i><br /><br />https://www.facinghistory.org/nobigotry/readings/alexis-de-tocqueville-democracy-and-religion<br /><br /><br />In America, the churches never really ran the state governments even where there was an established church, and even back in England, it was the state that ran the church, and why even non-Anglicans opposed the Church of England appointing bishops in the colonies.Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14261005753203180162noreply@blogger.com