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60) Does the Gospel of Oneness believe in the separation of Church and State since you believe God is in everything and everybody and that everything is connected?

With some religions it is difficult to separate the organized religion from the government.  Since God cannot be compartmentalized, many religionist believe that governments should be theocratic or at least dominated and led by religious wise men who can interpret the scriptures, signs and omens coming from God. The trouble with such theocracies or near theocracies is that the people who wind up in charge are probably not going to be God-knowing saints at this time in our history.

The government of Iran is a good example of a theocratic state gone wrong.  Many human rights abuses have taken place in the name of doing God’s will. And the people there do not have freedom of religion.

While the Gospel of Oneness does believe that God is everywhere and in everyone, it doesn’t believe in setting up a theocratic state to follow one fixed idea of who God is and what he or she wants from us.

The Gospel of Oneness sees everyone as a sovereign citizen of the world and the universe.  Everyone, say above the age of 18, should be able to vote in the elections of a country.

A secular government that is impartial towards all religions is the best.  But let’s say a majority of the “sovereign citizens” want a theocratic government—they can vote that in if that’s what they want, but if such a government starts discriminating against minority religions, then they would not be honoring our God given freedom to have our own inner connection with God.

So the Gospel of Oneness believes in the freedom of choice first of all, and any government that limits or restricts a person’s religious beliefs would be harmful to our development towards a more enlightened society.  The Gospel of Oneness believes that since we are all related as children of God, or “Identities” in God, then we ought to treat each other with love and respect.  We can’t force our truth about religion on other people.  State sponsored religious beliefs will not bring enlightenment to a society.  If the Gospel of Oneness becomes a belief of a majority of the citizens, it will happen naturally with no coercion..

Related articles

• Ron Paul And The Separation Of Church And State (jonathanturley.org)