R: Institute a State Religion

Since the founding decades of America, there has been a debate among all levels of society over “church and state.” Today in America, we don’t debate church and state as often as we bemoan the governmental gridlock which arises from fundamental differences in primary values. We seem to be trapped by an inability to make moral judgments at the state level due to our insistence on removing religion from politics. In this mess, could instituting a state religion be exactly what we need to solve this problem?

On the one hand, religious people tend to agree that their religious values improve their lives. Barring a few specific theological divides, there are many virtues which are common to all religions and which could benefit society. Prudence, temperance, respect for authority, all of these values would be promoted within a more religious state. This agreement on certain fundamental values would certainly make governmental operation much more efficient, allowing for discourse and variance without leading to the absolute gridlock which we find so often the case in American politics today.

And yet, our nation was founded on the idea of religious freedom and even the freedom to not be religious. By the time the states met for the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, all but one of the states had done away with their religious tests for voting rights. There is a reason Article VI of the Constitution specifically forbids religious tests. The Founding Fathers understood that the state cannot overstep its bounds and demand the populace adhere to a particular religion. Doing so would lead to the denial of free expression so crucial to this nation’s flourishing.

In considering this topic, we must ask ourselves a few questions. To what extent does the state have a duty to promote virtue among its citizens? Is religion the best way to go about this? If the state were to institute a state religion, how would it be decided upon? Would our governmental issues really be solved by having the same foundational worldview or would we still see the divisiveness and petty spectacles which plague our state today?