Friday, July 27, 2012
Breaching the Religion of the Government
Winthrop felt strongly that the government shouldn’t be changed from an Aristocracy, government ruled by upper class, to a Democracy, a government run by the people living as citizens under the government, because it would be a “breach in the Fifth Commandment”[p.77 The Wordy Shipmates]
Martin Luther wrote an explanation on how the fifth commandment reaches beyond family life and how it connects to the power above the commonwealth.
“In this commandment belongs a further statement regarding all kinds of obedience to persons in authority who have to command and govern. For all authority flows and is propagated from the authority of parents…. They are all called fathers in the Scriptures, as those who in their government perform the functions of a father, and should have a paternal heart toward their subordinates.”
Weather the church and state are together or separated makes a society what it is. When a state is independent and not ruled by the church it has no limitations of what can be produced, no higher power restricting and creating boundaries, with the exception of laws. Laws are in place for the better good of a community as a whole. Religious view can be chosen now and that is what is so different today than it was when there was first settlement in America
In the current American society we are a democratic republic. We have laws that are in place for the greater good, that way we don’t run around stealing and killing. I find it interesting that a purely Puritan society became our society today. There is an obvious heavy influence considering that most of our ancestors were Puritans.
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I like the idea you suggested in saying a state has much more freedom when it is not church ruled. A church ruled state has to abide by all 'God's rules' while a state that's ruled seperate from it's church has limitless options on what goes, and what does not. I also noticed and found it interesting that much of our current society came from the Puritan way of life. It was strange reading the book and thinking how different the Puritan way was, but then reflecting after reading the book and realizing a lot of our laws come from the Puritans.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that the difference between now and the past was the idea of choice. People can definitely choose more than they could back then. This is definitely a new perspective that I did not think about. What you believe was a choice but you had to suffer the consequences of your beliefs. Now people do accept other religions better than in the seventeenth century. Religious freedom is definitely one of the major themes of Vowell's book.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about about Martin Luther King and things that he said, and it seems that the early Puritan settlements, the 1950's and today all have a lot in common, and can all still relate to one another with common goals. I agree that it is interesting that our society today was built upon the Puritans back in the 1600's.
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