Seperation of Church and State

[mcliffor]

We often talk about the natural law as if it is something evident to all people, but it takes a lot of reading and study sometimes to learn to accept the natural law. At the same time, what constitutes the natural law varies according to who you ask. My question is, how can we expect the secular state to enforce the natural law without showing favoritism to the Catholic Church? There are so many different definitions of the natural law, how can we expect the state to choose the Catholic one?

 

[runandsew]

Well, It won’t happen overnight, or probably even in our life times. But I would say that the answer would be prayer, and how we vote. Christians (both Catholic and Protestants) are a big enough voter block, that if everyone voted what was right rather that what was wanted by society, things would change.

 

[Verbum]

Hi mcliffor,

The state does not exist to enforce private morality. It exists to protect life, limb and property and to insure public order. In doing this, it must, of course, observe the principles of natural law, which encompass equality and dignity for all, due process, etc. and which are typically contained in a bill of rights.

Verbum