Religion is Government

Throughout history, religion has played a major role in how people act.  In many cases, religion is better at controlling how people act than law is.  Historically, many nations that recognized this co-opted religion as an additional method of control, creating or adopting state religions that encouraged people to act how the government wanted them to.  Religion has always been more personal than government though.  Even within one religion, members understand doctrines differently from one another.  Because religion is about personal belief, it should not be forced on someone, and as the American Revolution approached, this started to become far more obvious.  This fact was ultimately one of the driving factors in that revolution.  If you ignore the aspect of personal belief though, you may notice that religion has a lot in common with government.

First, to be completely blunt, religions are governments.  They are not secular governments, but they do govern their members.  The most important difference between religion and secular government is free will, and this is why government and religions have no business being legally connected.  When a state religion is created, it becomes an arm of the government, and the free will that makes religions what they are is lost.  This even applies to nations that adopt atheism as the state religion, banning any other religions.  As micro governments, religions actually play some very useful roles.

Religions have some power over the behavior of their members.  Now, some people perceive this as a bad thing, but it is not actually.  The reason is that participation is entirely voluntary.  Where religion is free from the influence of secular government, it encourages people to be civilized of their own free will.  Religions to do wield legal power to punish their members in any universally meaningful way.  They might excommunicate members who do not follow the tenants of the religion, but in most cases, members who are expelled from a religion have shown either through their words or actions that they do not actually believe the doctrine of that religion (there are occasional exceptions), and thus, no serious harm is done to them.  Religions are more or less social institutions that impose social rules and punish deviation through entirely social means.  People are free to choose their social rules by choosing which religion they are a member of.  This is unique, because people have little power over their secular government beyond relocating to the realm of a different government.  Even in a democratic government, those who do not agree with the majority have little control over how they are governed.  When religion is free, each person can choose his or her own social rules, and if there is not a religion that fits, it is always possible to create a new one.  Overall, religions help keep civilization civilized, and more effectively than government can.

Religions act as an additional check and balance to secular government.  Religions help unify people.  Groups of people who choose to have similar beliefs is far more united than the people of a nation that is forced to follow only one religion.  Religions can unite against unjust government actions.  Religions can help encourage political dialog that can drive positive change.  Religions give the people more power and ability to unite against the government when necessary (religions even played an integral role in starting the American Revolution).  When governments choose to work with religions, the voice of the people can be better heard by the government, without the need for the people to unite against the government.  Viewed as independent governing entities who represent their followers, religions can work with secular governments to enhance communication between the government and the people it represents.

Religions also tend to be better at social welfare than governments.  Because religions cannot impose mandatory taxes, they are limited to the voluntary donations of their members, which is why some forms of welfare must be handled by secular governments, however, religions can often get into places that secular governments cannot.  This does not just include countries in need of foreign aid that doubt the motives of secular governments.  It also includes homeless people, who do not have permanent addresses or even identification.  Secular governments just cannot afford the man power required to effectively distribute all needed welfare, even in their own regions.  Religions often have plenty of members willing to spend some time on charity work, who can distribute welfare with less concern for accountability.  Because the funds are donated voluntarily, religions do not have to worry so much about abuse of the system.  Also, because religions typically have more limited funds, abuse of religious social welfare is rarely very profitable.  In addition, because religions are autonomous and have less accountability, they can be more flexible.  In the effort to enforce fairness and accountability, government often inadvertently leave gaps in their social welfare programs.  Religions can fill those gaps, though perhaps no so well as the government could by analyzing the system and making adjustments.  Without religions helping with social welfare, much of the world would be doing far less well than they are.

The most unique thing about religions is that participation is voluntary.  This is very useful.  First, it encourages each person to choose a religion.  Most people in the U.S. are members of some religion or other.  Of those that have no official membership, many still identify with some religion, even if it is just a generic version of some category of religions (for instance, non-denominational Christian).  Those who do not identify with any religion often still have some personal religious ideology that guides they actions.  This means that most Americans subscribe to some religious ideology that encourages them to get along with others.  Further, because religion is voluntary, people feel compelled to keep the tenets of their religions, because they made a personal choice to do so.  There is a great deal of work that government does not need to do, because religions do it for them.  Integrity is only legally enforced when legal contracts are involved, however, most people are honest most of the time, even when it may not benefit them.  Most people don't steal, even when they know they will not get caught.  Most people overlook minor harm that was unintentional.  There are no laws enforcing most of this good behavior, and in the cases where there are, they are not reliable.  People choose to be civilized anyway, and in a large part, religions are responsible.  Religions encourage civilization and making wise choices, and because participation is voluntary, members are more likely to follow the commandments and recommendations, because they chose them of their own free will.

Secular governments have a monopoly on violence, and perhaps that is for the best.  In the past, religions that have been permitted to use violence have abused that authority a majority of the time.  Even limiting religions to using violence only on their own members is probably a bad idea.  Likewise, religions have something of a monopoly on personal belief.  Again, this is probably for the best.  Allowing secular governments to control the beliefs of people has almost always ended in disaster in the past, and forcing a large group of people to have the same beliefs has never turned out well.  Government and religion complement each other in very important ways, when they are autonomous from each other.  When they are combined, however, a major conflict of interests almost always arises, and one or the other is assimilated and becomes an engine of tyranny.