Disestablishmentarianism

Corruption is the death of government. A theocracy can never withstand the test of time because all religious institutions eventually become corrupt.  The idea of combining church and state might seem appealing because the government will be “pure” due to the presence of “holy” people who can make righteous decisions. Yet these “holy” people end up abusing their power.

             Throughout European history, the popes that were head of the church and state weren’t pious people but rather hedonistic sinners whose actions contradicted the words they preached (sounds familiar?). Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503) literally bought his way into the papacy by bribing the church.  In Iran, one of the last remaining theocracies, the Ayotallah Khomeini is revered like a god despite having caused the death of thousands of Iranians during the Iranian Revolution. Hawthorne also shows that even the Puritans, who were meant to “purify” the Church of England, had immoral policies and morally corrupt reverends.  

            Power can be easily abused in the name of god, which is why corruption exists in religious institutions. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards finds it so easy to get into the minds of people by using the word god.  The irony is that “God”, the spiritual epitome of morality, is used as an excuse for immoral actions by theocratic societies.