ext_17567 ([identity profile] mmcirvin.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] mmcirvin 2005-07-12 07:19 pm (UTC)

I think the common pattern here is that in any more or less Western pluralistic society that isn't an outright theocracy, the more a religious organization has to make accommodations beyond its core followers, the less hardcore it can be. And getting public funding often has that kind of string attached (though soliciting private tuition effectively can too). In the European countries with established state churches, the state churches turn into these big-tent organizations that aren't much into the hellfire and brimstone. Or, a lot of people are counted as nominal church members when it's actually not much more than a check box on their birth certificates.

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