Religion and State - Between Kim and Kentucky

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@KIM DAVIES – “RENDER UNTO CAESAR WHAT BELONGS TO CAESAR”
I do not intend to condemn Kim; neither do I praise her for standing on her Christian values and defying the Kentucky laws. However, what she failed to realize is that, in a society where there are lots of folks with diverse beliefs, cultural orientation, and where our actions are humanified rather than divinified – from our courts to game centers, the wall street etc, our actions and in-actions are constructed on the prevailing laws which, in the social contract, we all submitted to the state. This is Democracy after all, not Theocracy. Perhaps, Kim should have simply studied the life of Christ which she professes to allow wisdom to prevail. In Mat. 22 17-21, Jesus was asked a rather tempting question; “Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? He answered them (and I believe that answer must be given by all who hold religious views which may be in conflict with state laws) “whose is the image and subscription?...Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.
As long as we remain on earth, under a ‘Caesar’ (governor, President, Dictator, Supreme Court), wisdom is the essential ingredient needed to forestall conflict and disorder. We talk about fundamentalism as, the immersion of an individual into a certain form or version of religious and socio/cultural system. Where the rate of immersion is higher, there is a conflict between individually held views and the prevailing secular laws. This is where religious extremism emerges, We must understand that, our belief system though may be precious in substance and practice, if it acts to topple social order and portrays itself as disobedient and violent, defying constituted authorities, it becomes the breeding ground for terrorism, becomes suspicious and a subject of reproach, rather than praise. As long as society does not refrain you from praying, singing, or performing such other religious rituals that distinguishes you from the rest, so why not “render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar?” at least no ‘Caesar’ can exist forever but transform over time.

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