The Church, however, is a self-governing society, distinct from the State, having its officers and laws, and, therefore, an administrative government of its own.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We must never forget what government is not. Government is not a philanthropic organization. Government is not the family. And government certainly is not the church.
All Church power is, therefore, properly ministerial and administrative. Everything is to be done in the name of Christ, and in accordance with his directions.
There is a kind of thinking in the Church that wants to reduce the priest to a mere functionary, a managing director, where administration rather than doctrine and worship are to determine the form of the Church.
What's true for churches is true for other institutions: the older and more organized they get, the less adaptable they become. That's why the most resilient things in our world - biological life, stock markets, the Internet - are loosely organized.
I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church.
The church wasn't an organization in the first century. They weren't writing checks or buying property. The church has matured and developed over the years. But for some reason, the last thing to change is the structure of leadership.
A society whose members are united by the fact that they think in the same way in regard to the sacred world and its relations with the profane world, and by the fact that they translate these common ideas into common practices, is what is called a Church. In all history, we do not find a single religion without a Church.
The Church's role should be separated from the state's role.
The church, inserted and active in human society and in history, does not exist in order to exercise political power or to govern the society.
The church is not a political power; it's not a party, but it's a moral power.