Ifluencia De La Religion En El Gobierno

Module 02 Written Assignment - Religion's Influence on Government
Joe Marcial
Rasmussen College

Author Note
This paper is being submitted on March 1, 2013 for Dr. Hamid Kazeroony, SHPR, PHR - G440 / POT4001 Political Thought Section 01 – Early Spring 2013


Religion's Influence on Government
Introduction
This essay will compare and contrast the thoughts of Aquinas and Augustine on therole of religion in government and assess the legitimacy of tyranny as a form of government from the viewpoint of both philosophers. We will begin by describing ach philosopher’s views and then describe how they compare and contrast.
St. Augustine
Augustine adopted Plato’s teachings about levels and degrees of reality, in which even material reality in some sense reflect the higher, ultimateform of reality. He rejected the idea of absolute evil, and argued that evil competed with the values of virtue, honor and justice. Ultimately this made the City of Man a complex and imperfect place, as such, the City of Man cannot become the City of God. This differentiation of between the City of Men and the City of God sets the stage for his views on the role of religion in government.Augustine works do not discuss the best forms of government. As stated by (Pierce J., 2008) “He is interested in God's role in history, in individuals and among nations and rulers, including both good and bad rulers.” (para.1). From this perspective, he will present ethical questions about how to govern, and how Christians should behave as part of a political entity. (Pierce J., 2008). Therefore, thereis no bad government for Augustine, in order to preserve peace and prevent anarchy, Christians must obey the law of the government, even tyrannies. There are exceptions where a Christian might reject or revolt against an unjust government, as stated by (Deutsch and Fornieri, 2009), although he must bear the consequences of his actions, “Though Augustine claims that both slavery and tyranny wereagainst the natural order as God intended, he does not provide a theory of resistance to the state. All authorities, no matter how wicked, must be obeyed, provided they do not command beliefs and actions contrary to conscience. In the event that they do so, the Christian is obliged to resist passively by refusing to obey the law and to suffer willingly the consequences, even death and martyrdom.”(p.127)
St. Aquinas
Aquinas is more specific about the influence of religion in government. According to Aquinas government is necessary. He views man as a social being and a rational and political animal, therefore government is necessary to protect the common good. According to him all human authority is subordinate to God, and thus all rulers are subject to the Pope.
Only the Church isconcerned with the good life of virtue as an end to God’s will and salvation which is the ultimate end of communities. Power which does not come from God is unjustly acquired, and in these circumstances man is not only not obliged to obey, but obliged not to obey in the case of unjust or tyrannical governments.
Aquinas will combine faith with reason and granted that the world is ruled by DivineProvidence. He wrote about four categories of law:
1.) Eternal Law-Gods rule for the world, timeless and divine reason that governs the world.
2.) Natural Law – substantiated by reason it is universal and self-evident inclination towards good.
3.) Human Law – As a result of man’s fall from grace and necessary for the functioning of a society. It is derived from natural law. Its legitimacy dependson its justice as no just law is natural.
4.) Divine Law – This is a specific revelation in instances where reason is an insufficient guide to truth and justice. (Deutsch and Fornieri, 2009)
Differences in views
The main difference between Aquinas and Augustine lies in the values each assigns to man and his relation to the common good. According to Aquinas, the collective pursuit of the...