RELIGION AND THE STATE
Now 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
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 peril.
The modem 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
the concept 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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