accomplishments and success of civilizations are closely linked to their religious outlook and the role of religion in their governments and society. Throughout history rulers have used the influence of religions to control their populations and provide the justification for their power. A society with a greater degree of separation between religion and government promotes a superior level of liberty and creativity amongst its people. By the time of the decline of the Roman Empire in the west, however, the world had come full circle to a return to theocratic dictatorship. In the ancient civilization of the Sumerians, religion was an important part of both the lives of the citizens and the administration of government. People felt very distant from their rulers and this feeling was reflected in their religion.
The great gods of the day were unconcerned with human welfare. They were in control of the forces of nature and were the source of authority for the rulers. Both inspired fear and veneration in the populace and the people created lesser gods as guardian intercessors to assuage the insecurity of their world. Although the Sumerians developed systems of writing and mathematics, the use of these arts was restricted to an elite upper class while the majority of the people were enslaved by ignorance and fear. This structure of subservience to a higher power was established in their religion and played out in their government. The government of ancient Egypt was similarly autocratic.
The Dissertation on Covenanted Governments Government People Man
... would run the institutions of government. People executed God's will his "permission." In these times, people believe that they were carrying ... people governed the letter two of the aforementioned; religion played little or no importance. Even the philosophers that helped shape our government ... desire of man was what the government consisted of. There is no single ruler that dictates their will for the ...
The pharaohs were both god and king. Religion taught the people to trust that their king would rule accordingly. In return for the building and maintenance of great temples the gods preserved the absolute power of the pharaoh and ensured the duration of the state. These temples were created and built by the will of the elite through the labor of the people.
Again we see the absolute defeat of the people to the undeniable, god-like authority of the ruler. The rise of the Greeks was a revolutionary step away from this system. Although Greek society was also greatly influenced by their polytheistic religion, they took an intellectual approach to the study of the man-nature relationship. Instead of accepting or inventing mystical explanations for the world around them they applied their development of science to philosophy seeking out empirical answers to the questions of the universe. They developed their laws and philosophies in accordance with what seemed to them appropriate social interaction, not the order of a god, a priest, or a king. Ethics and morality became the questions of high-minded citizens who created schools and systematic empirical methods for seeking the answers to questions of right and wrong, politics, and the nature of man.
The gifts of education were more available to the common citizen than in any previous time in history and the political system allowed each man a say in the government of his community. These were limited, but their very presence signifies a major shift away from the authoritarianism of the past. Roman religion came to mirror that of the Greeks, as did so much of their society. Their government maintained a control over religion throughout, however, using laws to promote the worship of some and condemn the worship of other gods. Christianity was declared the official religion of the state and was used to bind a vastly diverse population together under a common faith. It is evident that religions and their place in society have a profound effect on the growth, development, and accomplishments of a civilization.
The birth of democracy and a Golden Age of western scientific and cultural development occurred in the civilization that furthest separated its religion from its government.
