Religion, State, and the Fragility of Democracy

In a range of facets and ways, the authors contributing to this issue attest to the persistence of that most perennial of law and religion issues: the relation between religion and the state. They do so at a time when Americans, of a variety of political stripes and in a highly polarized society, express a range of doubts and distrust of government and the state. They also do so at a time when governments and states around the world are trending toward autocracy and straining to retain democracy. In the United States, there can be no greater testimony to skepticism of the state than the siege of the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Democracy is reeling in places like Hong Kong, Myanmar, and an Afghanistan recently reclaimed by the Taliban. And the threat of autocracy seems to be rising. As noted journalist and historian Anne Applebaum recently observed, "If the 20th century was the story of a slow, uneven struggle, ending with the victory of liberal democracy over other ideologiescommunism, fascism, virulent nationalism-the 21st century is, so far, a story of the reverse." 1 Autocracy is the hypertrophy of the state, but it is often achieved at the expense of democracy, the form of the state that was said to be "winning" toward the end of the twentieth century. 2 Religion-state conflict is real because the two institutions have different origins, natures, and purposes. Religion, for many, is a claim of faith, and it is a community of belonging, akin to family and tribe for others. The state is an artificial structure with some similarities to family in the provision of basic needs, along with similarities to both family and church in its hierarchies and structures. But even while proponents of religion defend family, faith, and freedom, it is the state that has the power to give or take lives, liberties, and livelihood. People in capitalist societies, especially hyper-capitalist societies such as the United States, sometimes experience cognitive dissonance-even shame-around their reliance on government services. One thinks of the protest sign reading "Keep government out of my Medicare!" in the 2010 US healthcare debates. Some opponents of government value libertarianism more than liberty, and their ire-an ire that can find both its source and expression in religion-is often directed at the state

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