Faith & Politics

What many people don't realise is that the Separation of Church and State was actually a Christian idea! These days this phrase is used by people who want to minimise the influence of religion in the political realm, but originally it was a phrase invented by Christians who wanted to limit the influence that the State had on the Church!

In Europe prior to the Great Reformation, and even to a significant extent after the Reformation, the State continued to exert a controlling influence over people in relation to their religious liberties and convictions. If you were of baptist conviction, for example, you would be hounded and persecuted by the State-controlled churches who saw infant baptism as the means by which European "Christendom" would be perpetuated.