Richard Randerson: Just how separate are church and state?

Richard Randerson

COMMENT

To claim divine endorsement for policies of national self-interest requires but a few short steps. A nation adopts a policy to further its own ends, but needs a publicly acceptable rationale to justify it. A rationale is developed based on values such as freedom, justice, peace and serving the best interests of all.

Since such values can easily be seen as having a religious base, the claim is made (with a little bit of spin and slippage) that God is on our side. In the lead-up to the assault on Fallujah both sides claimed divine support, and sought divine aid for victory.

Missing from the argument is a crucial factor of analysis of the context. In value judgments the basic values (freedom, justice, peace) are not difficult to agree on. The tricky part lies in figuring out what they mean in a given context.

In retrospect the allied invasion of Iraq displayed faulty analysis with regard to weapons of mass destruction, and in the development of an adequate post-invasion peace plan.

Questions of whose interests were being served leave much room for debate, and different conclusions.

The association of religion with the exercise of political, economic or military power is a risky business, yet one that is on the rise.

Political analysis of the American election suggests conservative religious votes played a significant role in the outcome.

In Australia the Family First Party, consisting of many members of the Assemblies of God, entered candidates in last month's election and assigned preferences to the Liberal Party.

Here, the establishment of the Destiny Party, with its links to the Destiny Church, has joined other Christian parties in seeking political power.

For Christians as individuals to stand for political office, and to exercise their votes as citizens, is entirely proper. Church members weigh the issues and cast votes according to their own judgment and conscience. But for a church or other religious body to align itself formally with a political party, or to establish one of its own, opens up a different set of issues.

No political party is likely to encompass the range of issues and perspectives held by a particular church or faith. In general terms, conservative churches tend to focus on issues of personal morality, and take a traditional stance on matters such as family values, abortion or civil unions. By contrast liberal churches emphasise broader social or international issues such as poverty and justice, race relations or global peace.