Church vs. State

You sound just like my preacher sounded yesterday. Read my earlier post.

There are some polling places here which are located in churches or synagogues. Most of the polling places, however, are located in schools. It is my understanding that the locations of polling places are based upon access - that is to say they are based upon the chosen location's ability to handle traffic and the familiarity of the constituents with the location. Also, back in the old rural days the only place the community would gather together would be at church, so that became the natural place to vote.

Around here though, especially out west where the new subdivisions are, firehouses are becoming more popular as polling places.

The ancient Egyptians handed all power to the Pharoah, but the Pharoah had to get the High Priest's authorisation each year and had to offer sacrifices.

To a degree, but in a different form this continues to this day, and probably existed before. Ruling is about day to day decisions, and lends itself to moral relativism. Religiously contemplating, when not corrupt, is about looking at the lasting values and lends itself to moral absolutism.

To function properly as a people, we cannot go to the extremes of moral relativism or absolutism because both harbour huge corruptions. The interplay between the two, represented now as swearing on the bible etc. is an attempt for us to gently yo yo between the two so that we can best protect ourselves from the excesses of both.