The Relationship Between The Church And State Religion Essay

European history shows a merge of the Roman Catholic Church and province even though the church was above the province. For most portion of European history, all the personal businesss of the province were controlled and ruled by the church. The church had the footing for every facet of human life. For most Kings that ruled European states they had to be under the church, some of them even held spiritual rubrics. Monarchs felt they were divinely chosen by God to govern the province. Other times the province was ruled by the Catholic Pope because he was the caput of the church. The church governing the province brought about several jobs and issues when the Catholic Popes did non carry on themselves in the right order. They engaged in payoffs and inappropriate behaviours that did non correlate with the bible. The manner the Catholic Popes conducted the church and province personal businesss stirred inquiries and rebellions in the church and province.

The reformation of the church came about chiefly from the corruptness and inappropriate Acts of the Apostless of the church, the rise of the province above the church and the lower status of highly old fashioned ways of idea. With Martin Luther as one of the bow advocates of the reformation the construct of separation of the church and province began to turn which lead to the dissolution of the Catholic Church and the separation of the church personal businesss from the province. France was the first state to go a secular province even though it is utmost in its secular ways. Today USA and France are the chief states that are referred to as secular and their footings of secularism differ.

Secularism is defined as the exclusion or neutrality of authorities and public personal businesss from faith. The word “ secular ” means “ of the universe ” . In a secular province there is a separation of the faith from the province, in the sense that any public affair is non defined on the footing of faith. Peoples are allowed to pattern their faiths at place and in their worship centres but are non allowed to allow it interfere with public affairs they are involved in. For a province to be secular it has to avoid the infiltration of faith into any signifier of public personal businesss that includes instruction and political relations.

Religion plays a function in political relations and the province. Religion gives people a basic sense of codification of behavior and besides a sense of moralss. Peoples so use this foundation in their political lives. Bing brought up in a spiritual environment, the inclinations of persons doing determinations based on their spiritual philosophies is high. Some political positions based on faith are antediluvian and narrowly minded which begin to do jobs amongst inter spiritual groups. Even though faith sets a basic foundation for moral behavior, some readings of morality are intense. If the church is separated from the province inquiries about morality come up ; who and what draws the line between good and bad, moral and immoral?

Like John Calvin I think there should be and there is a topographic point for faith and the province to coexist in the society without being in resistance to one another. If people respect and tolerate other peoples faiths, faiths would be practiced in private and public struggles would be avoided. Harmonizing to Habiger, the proper function of the church is with the ageless life of persons and the province trades with the stuff and societal good being of human existences. So faith should cover with the beliefs of persons towards a superior being, their psyches and after life. Since faith in general dictates the codification of behavior of persons, people should hence act in a manner that is morally right harmonizing to their faith and society. Modern province should handle faith the manner secularism undertakings it by guaranting that faith dressed ores entirely on the church and non the province. This would heighten province personal businesss as spiritual struggles would be on the lower limit and secularism would be promoted.

Nigeria has been said to be a secular province, but from my apprehension of secularism I do non believe I will sort us as layman. It is a full spiritual province and this can be seen in different parts of the state. Soon, Nigeria is fundamentally divided into the northern provinces composed chiefly of Muslims and the southern provinces made up of Christians. The jobs that Nigerians are confronting now like spiritual crisis makes me inquire if being a secular province would work out the jobs we encounter as a state.

Since the 1800s Muslims have strived to do Nigeria an Islamic province. When all hopes seemed to hold failed at the political degree they took on a new bend. The Muslims want province and faith to travel manus in manus and want Islam to be the chief faith of the state while the Christians have wanted it to be a secular province. In 1979, when the fundamental law of Nigeria was written the Christians stated that they wanted a secular province with no province faith while the Muslims engraved sharia into another subdivision. The Muslims were non pleased about the Christians desiring to secularise the province. In 1980, the Muslims in the North decided to travel about the Islamization of the state by spiritual public violences. The Muslims have been at war of all time since the 1980s all because they want to do Nigeria an Islamic province and this calls for oppugning. They have employed many tactics from scratching the Islamic law into the fundamental law, to holding a military government ruled by a Muslim to the changeless every twenty-four hours blood casting public violences to do confusion and supercharge the presidents.

These spiritual public violences have become an mundane matter in Jos. In the 1990s, Christians and Muslims in Jos were at peace with each other and lived in harmoniousness. Then in September 2001 the first spiritual crisis in Jos occurred. The state of affairs in Jos has been described as a race murder which can be defined as the unmerciful extinction of a group of people due to political, spiritual or ethnicity grounds. The crisis in 2001 led to the ruthless violent death of mainly adult females and kids and devastation of belongings. The passage from peace to bomb blasts has been put offing. Ever since the 2001 crisis Jos has ne’er been the same once more neither has it recovered from such inhumane Acts of the Apostless. The spiritual public violences have continued and gotten worse over the old ages killing more and more people. The latest crisis in 2010 to 2011, has sent bulk of the immigrants packing. This is precisely what the Muslim want, to direct people ( Christians ) off from Jos so that they can eventually take over the land and do it a Muslim province. Some say the jobs lie in the philosophies of the accused group – the Muslims and I agree with them. This is where the Sharia Law and Boko haram comes in.

Sharia Law is a set of regulations and ordinances that guide the behaviour of Muslims. It is a combination of the Qur’an and Sunnah and trades with every facet of the muslims life. The Sharia jurisprudence is a rigorous codification that ensures that people live by certain criterions and besides has grave effects for noncompliance. The codification segregates males and females and demands the covering of the head covering by females. Its penalty for certain offenses includes lapidating to decease, executing or whipping. Due to the penalties and some rough Torahs it has been banned in some states while other Muslim states have embraced it. In Nigeria provinces like Taraba, Jigawa, Bauchi and Gombe have accepted and are practising the Sharia jurisprudence. The credence of Sharia by some provinces in Nigeria has raised ideas and issues by the authorities and Christians chiefly because of the flagitious penalties attached to certain offenses.

Boko haram means the forbiddance of western civilization in Hausa linguistic communication ; it involves the enforcing of Islam and credence of Islamic law by Islam extremists. The boko haram people are rejecting western civilization because they say it is perverting their Muslim positions and beliefs and they need to support their faith. This sounds truly foolish to me because most of the people implementing these regulations are educated people doing usage of every signifier of western civilization and engineering. I do non understand why they are advancing boko haram when you are so profiting from the western civilization. The Acts of the Apostless of force of the boko haram group have resulted in the deceases of 100s of people in northern provinces that pattern Islamic law. The group burn down Churches, Christian houses, burn and kill Christians with lucifers, knives and other arms. These Acts of the Apostless are to bring down fright into people to abandon western positions while encompassing Islam and Sharia. These boko haram people claim to be contending for Allah so they kill non-muslims and Muslims excessively while leting those willingly to encompass sharia live.

The chief ground why the public violences in Jos are still happening is because the Muslims are utilizing the bloodshed public violences as a tactic to set the president, Christians and the province under force per unit area. So far, they are wining as they have killed tonss of Christians in Jos particularly the adult females and kids. They have successfully taken over the northern portion of Nigeria and have decided to travel down to the in-between belt and so the South. Their program is to force the state to another civil universe war and any actions the authorities takes is traveling to be used against them.

Personally I think different schemes can be employed to supply peace on the tableland and in Nigeria. Enough is adequate, there has been pitiless killing in the province and it is high clip the authorities did something about it. First of wholly, the job lies in the Muslims that we have in high topographic points, because they provide the weaponries for their members in Jos and northern provinces to travel about the violent death of people. It has besides been confirmed that the politicians in northern parts of the state protect the boko haram people and fund their force. Some of the weaponries used are imported from other states. If the armed forces and a council of Christian or anti spiritual commission took the affair into their custodies and made certain that twenty-four hours and dark peace is restored unto the province, the people caught in the Acts of the Apostless of bloodshed would be brought to order. Some of these people are known but the jurisprudence is non passed on them, this is what encourages others to take portion in such hardhearted Acts of the Apostless. I feel their faith has a batch to make with it. Blood casting is incorrect but if this is what they are taught, “ transition by the blade ” , so this job is bigger than we think.

It is easy to state that a secular province is what we need in Nigeria, where the idea and hopes of each spiritual group is respected, kept out of public topographic points and peace regulations. Then we realize that the spiritual crisis started when Christians decided the state would be better of secularized. Extreme steps have to be put in topographic point to acquire Nigeria to be a secular province and the first issue to be addressed is the spiritual crisis in the northern parts of Nigeria. Drastic actions have to be taken on the boko haram people and their followings. The people involved with the spiritual crisis are known but the multitudes are scared of giving them up because of the fright of being killed. Security and protection for the multitudes has to be taken earnestly and protection has to be granted to those willingly to give up the boko haram persons. When the leaders or members of boko haram are found, force should be employed to do certain they surrender and turn in other members. I can non hold to the military government or any signifier of leading that forces people to be portion of a certain faith they do non wish to be because it is an invasion on the rights of persons. But at that place have to be ways in which the Nigerian authorities and functionaries make the pattern of faith by persons private.

The present elections show the impact faith has on the province in Nigeria ; the Muslims wanted a Northerner to govern Nigeria while the Christians wanted a Southerner. After the consequences of the elections came out and the Northerners realized that a Christian had won they turned to violence one time once more. There has been pitiless violent death of Christians in northern states, combustion of houses, churches and all those in favour of Goodluck Jonathan. Honestly I do non understand what the job is with the Muslims in Nigeria. The last elections when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua the Christians accepted it and there was no signifier of rebellion or force but now that a Christian has won there are spiritual public violences in the North. I ponder on these and wonder the benefits of the crisis and violent death. If Nigeria is of all time traveling to travel frontward alteration has to be accepted soonest. Christians are afraid of giving the Muslims power because of Islamic laws but the Muslims want power by force so they can implement Islamic law in the state. This jus explains the tactics and ways in which they want to set the president and province under force per unit area. Tolerance and cooperation demands to be learnt and taught to the Muslim community before it all gets out of manus. I think Nigeria needs to implement secularism by force and guaranting that faith does non interfere with the province, and all those that fail to adhere be dealt with.

For a province to be secular faith has to be left out of instruction, political relations and other societal public activities. In more than half of the public schools in Nigeria, Islam and Christianity are topics taught in category at assorted degrees. Christians and Muslims want to learn their wards about their faiths while they are still immature so these classs are imbibed into the course of study of pupils. In public topographic points like infirmaries and eating houses and even on the media, there are assorted shows and negotiations on faith. In political relations some politicians have their positions sunk in faith. They feel they do non necessitate to make anything that does non correlate with their faith. Some of these patterns are taken excessively far for me. Look at the Muslim philosophies on dressing for illustration, the Muslim adult females have to be to the full dressed in their hijabs all twenty-four hours long because they feel it is a wickedness for a adult female ‘s organic structure to be shown. When other Christians or people dress how they feel they should be dressed or how faith permits them to be dressed, they are treated otherwise by Muslims because their positions on dressing do non match.

I believe the separation of the church and province is a good thought chiefly because of what occurred in the 1500s. The ways the Catholic Popes ruled the church and province without respect for God ; taking payoffs, perverting the church in the name of political relations and the province gave the church a bad name. The manner Christians conduct themselves is based on the church, but there should be a differentiation between the personal businesss of the church and the province. Society on the other manus is better off with church and province separated. In the sense that the society does n’t reject the church but instead limits its personal businesss to private topographic points. I do non hold with the manner France separates or handles secularism, in that instance it makes the province non better off without the church. With the push of the extremists of secularism in France, people are get downing to protest for their rights, this brings a load on the province. They begin to happen ways to work out jobs that could hold been avoided if people were allowed to transport on with their beliefs. USA permits people to pattern their faith and frock harmonizing to the manner faith authorizes and there have been no jobs. The policies and steps USA used to acquire to this point can non be overlooked but still they respect single rights and it is a peaceable province suiting different faiths.

Religion affects the province in footings of political relations and the province besides has an influence besides on faith. Religion shapes the manner of thought of persons every bit good as demoing the codification of behavior and saying clearly what is right and incorrect. Peoples get into political relations with this outlook and anticipate political relations to be played out the manner faith wants it to be. In a secular province rational thought should be employed to forestall the invasion of faith into political relations. When the corruptness in political relations is imbibed by persons, it in bend affects their faith and their behaviours begin to travel against their Holy Books. Religion and the province have brought about the sponsorship of spiritual plans or journeys by spiritual leaders in authorities. This can be seen in the pilgrim’s journey and holy trips to Mecca. These actions have been stopped in certain states, people interested in traveling on such journeys are to patronize themselves and the authorities is non supposed to hold any concern with this in a secular province.

Democracy is the regulation of the people where persons in a province ballot for the people they want in authorities to stand for their state on different issues and affairs. Some Muslim bookmans really believe that the acceptance of secularism would prefer democracy in the Muslim universe and I tend to hold with them. The embracing of democracy would take to more freedom and the pattern of human rights, their faith would non be rejected but instead it would be a affair of personal religion and beliefs. On the other manus, Christians secularism would besides heighten democracy. Christians are non as edge to ‘religion ‘ the manner Muslims are with Sharia. So yes, I feel democracy would be enhanced in a secular universe. Peoples would be allowed to do picks based on ground and facts instead than the enforcement on idea by faith.

The enlightenment is to thank for the debut of western positions and thoughts, scientific discipline and engineering, democracy and secularism. The church was reformed and it led to the separation of church from province. Islam besides needs reformation to interrupt up Islam from the province. Personally, I feel secularism is decidedly traveling to take to the enlargement of democratic administration. Democracy gives persons the right to voice out their sentiments and is better off than bossy leading.

If we talk about get rid ofing Islamic law and doing Nigeria a secular province, the Torahs in the South would besides hold to be abolished. These include the “ Law of the land ” , traditional Torahs, heritage rules of land and resources and multiple matrimonies. I do non see the obliteration of these every bit jobs as compared to the Islamic law, but it would non be just to set an terminal to sharia without besides undertaking these in the South.

From the survey of the European history, it would be wise to use some of these lessons to other parts of the universe before the same jobs arise. I would rede that the construct of secularism amongst other lessons be adopted, because a province maps best when faith and province are treated as separate organic structures. Corruptness in the church and province would be prevented at different degrees and struggles would besides be avoided.

The separation of the faith from the province should non do people to reject their faith but alternatively should be a system where persons pattern their faiths in private and prevent spiritual struggles in public. Humans should hold the rights to dress the manner faith licenses and codifications of behavior should non be imposed on persons by extremists. It would be of aid to accept and digest other faiths while the province is being ruled based on ground. I feel moderate secularism like that employed by the USA would make Nigeria good even though utmost steps may hold to be taken to acquire at that place.