more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
How pernicious it is both for religion and the state to allow ministers of things sacred to acquire the right to make decrees or handle the business of government.
Gist of Idea
Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (Tractatus Theologico-Politicus [1670], 18.06 (1))
Book Ref
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Theological-Political Treatise', ed/tr. Israel,Jonathan [CUP 2007], p.234
A Reaction
Interesting that he holds it to be bad for the religion as well as the state. In Britain we have bishops in the House of Lords.
7572 | Power is ordained by God, so anyone who resists power resists God, and will be damned [Paul] |
19933 | If religion is law, then piety is justice, impiety is crime, and non-believers must leave [Spinoza] |
19938 | Allowing religious ministers any control of the state is bad for both parties [Spinoza] |
19849 | In early theocracies the god was the king, and there were as many gods as nations [Rousseau] |
7339 | Because human life is what is sacred, Mosaic law has no death penalty for property violations [Johnson,P] |
7337 | In Mosaic legal theory, crimes are sins and sins are crimes [Johnson,P] |
7825 | The politics of Leibniz was the reunification of Christianity [Stewart,M] |