What are the major points on a brief Religious—Secular State Continuum? The point
on the left end of the continuum line is the Religious State. The key factor to this arrangement is that it
places law outside the purview of discussion and debate. The law of the state is determined by
religious law and authority which in turn is determined by unassailable
inspired truth. The middle point on the continuum
is the Mixed State. Here the people can
be religious but the laws of the land are determined by discussion and debate
to some extent informed by religious values held by the individual
constituents. Religion here can have
great influence but no direct power or authority. The point on the extreme right of the
continuum is the Secular State. The inhabitants
of this state eschew all religion and abhor references to religious inspiration
or authority by either institutions or individuals. Law in this view is no longer tainted by appeals
to unassailable authority of any kind but is entirely the creation of humanity. Humanism here serves as the only unassailable
doctrine. In my view the country of my
birth, the United States, is a Mixed State.
The main advantage of this arrangement is that it leaves room for
divine inspiration. It is an arrangement that partially rests on humility
before God and helps keep in check inordinate pride. Change, which is inevitable, is undergirded by arguable but
widely accepted eternal values. However
messy this arrangement can be it avoids the rigidity and forced unity of the
right and the arrogance and human behavioral fantasies of the left. In this arrangement no one is either above
secular law on the one hand nor divine judgment on the other.
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