Yikes - I agree with the National Secularist Society

This week I found myself agreeing with the National Secularist Society ... well, on one point at least.

The Anglican Church published their figures, showing how regular attendance had dropped below 1 million people on Sundays. Representing less than 2% of the population, the secularists have pointed out that this invalidates the case for the link between state and (anglican) church.

I agree ... although thats really because I'm not in favour of a link between church and state in the first place!

We preach Jesus, and His Kingdom. A Kingdom that transcends nation states and national identity. Within a nation it could be that a vast majority of the population believe and are inheritors of His Kingdom, and a natural consequence of their Jesus-discipleship would be to help their nation align its values with Kingdom values. That in turn would lead to practical application in many positive ways.

Yet even in such a society state and church can and (as many baptists argue) should remain separate. Yes they can respect each other, yes they can work together in many useful ways.  But remember a nation state's power system, though established by God (Romans 13), remains a human power system and therefore transient and temporary, as well as carrying risk of corruption. The Kingdom, however, is a foretaste of what will be, and will be eternal.

Best not confuse the two.