Catholic church and public policy have remarked that the members of American clergy in general, without even excepting those who do not admit religious liberty, are all in favour of civil freedom; but they do not support any particular political system. They keep aloof from parties, and from public affairs. In the United States religion exercises but little influence upon laws, and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the manners of the community, and by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state.

Alexis de Tocqueville

In making this statement, Alexis de Tocqueville sought to record religion's influence on American public life in the 1830's. Today, the intimate relations among political culture, political behavior, and church state circumstances that Tocqueville so aptly described are accurate in describing the relationship between politics and religion in the United States, and abroad.



In recent times and...
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