Can religion, society and the government fit together?

Should religion, society and the government fit together? I know – the title says “can”. But as soon as I typed it, I thought “should” is a better question. But I left the title as it is, because lots of people are trying to make religion, society, and government all fit together.

And yes, to some extent it can happen. Just look at China for an example. Not that it’s working out well, especially for religion. But it is being forced by their atheist Communist government.

The thing is, it’s also happening here in the U.S.

And probably lots of countries around the world. But here in the U.S., it’s not the government, per se, that’s making it happen. Rather, it’s the Evangelical Christians that vote for candidates, like Donald Trump, who prey on their desire to make their version of Christianity into a kind of “national religion”.

What I mean by “national religion” isn’t that everyone gets baptized and joins an Evangelical Christian church. Not at all. It’s that the laws of our country get aligned with the so-called Christian priorities of the vocal members of Evangelical churches.

Ultimately, I can see both China and the U.S. ending up in somewhat opposite, but very much similar situations. Jesus will be removed from the official Chinese Christian church. And in the U.S., Jesus’ teachings will be reduced to the handful of things these vocal / political Evangelical Christians have as their personal favorite sins to abolish. Further to abolish by law, not by the Great Commission that Jesus taught.

If that interests you and you’d like to read more about it, I just put up the latest installment of an examination of Religious Regulations in China at How do religion, society and the government fit together? It’s part of a series on Freedom of religion in China – coming to the U.S. as well?