Government and Religion

---
November 27, 2006
---

Before we delve into the meat of this blog, let’s first review some definitions (my wording) that you may have forgotten since civics class:

• Theocracy: literally a “God Rules” government; this is a government where a religion sets the rules.
• Democracy: literally a “People Rules” government; while there are different levels of democracy (direct and representative are two), this is a government where the people set the rules.

A brief look at American history will no doubt (even with the liberal attempts to re-write history) show that our country’s laws, principles, and structure were (for the most part) based on the Christian religion. That said, America is a democracy and not a theocracy. That being said let us look at what Christianity is and how it should affect our government. I'll do this by expanding on the following ideas:

1. Christianity is the one true faith.
2. God judges wicked nations.

A nation’s righteousness cannot be determined by its government but by the people themselves.

Principles of Government and How They Relate to Guns, Gambling, Drugs, Etc.

I've often weighed the role of government. I have boiled my thoughts on government down to one main principle and two supporting principles:

1. Government should protect its citizen's individual freedom foremost.
2. Government should accomplish this by:
   a. Protecting citizens from outside entities (other countries' armies, terrorist, etc.)
   b. Protecting citizens from each other

All laws, taxes, fees, statues, governmental bodies, etc. should support align with these principles. Laws should only restrict or limit individual freedom (#1) to accomplish protecting that individual from other entities or other citizens (#2a or #2b). These restrictions should only happen in circumstances where all other avenues have been explored and proven ineffective.