Why Complete Separation of Church and State is Impossible

The separation of church and state is very important, I believe in it, but there are degrees of separation, and an absolute separation cannot be enforced in a secular and liberal democracy.

First, nobody wants to live in a theocracy or hierocracy overseen by a Pope, High priest, Dalai Lama, Ayatollah, or Guru. It is bad for religion and bad for personal freedom. Nobody likes being forced to go to church and Baptists don’t like being forced to use the Anglican Book of Common prayer.

Second, nobody wants to live in a place where the state bans religion or tries to regulate religion. Some states do this or have done this, esp. in communist countries, but restricting religious freedom also restricts cognate freedoms like speech and association. So not a good idea!

So we need religious freedom and freedom from religion.

Some commentators, especially on the left, think that there is too much religion in American and even Australian politics.

Maybe but … here’s the problem. It is impossible to completely remove religion from politics in a liberal and multi-cultural democracy.

Here’s the thing. Government enacts laws, laws express policies, policies are shaped by values, and values are shaped by several things like popular opinion and religion.

In addition, in a liberal democracy, where there is no religious test for office, no suppression of political opinion, and universal suffrage, then religion is always going to find a way to exercise a political voice.

So there is always going to be a religious influence upon government and laws.

To be honest, the only way to completely eradicate religious influence upon government is to mandate the following:

- Prevent people of faith from running for elected office.
- Prevent people of faith from serving in public office.
- Prevent people of faith from voting.
- Prevent people of faith from publishing political opinions.

So a pure and unadulterated secularism is impossible in a liberal democracy, unless you either drop the “liberal” or the “democracy.”

The best you can do is, as America and Australia have done, is have a “no establishment clause,” to prevent the government from setting up a state religion. But then again, Britain has an official state religion for England in the Church of England, without creating a theocracy and still maintaining a fairly liberal multi-cultural society.

So rather than speak of “freedom from religion,” I prefer the mantra “secularism for a liberal, tolerant, and inclusive society.”