George Washington writing to Catholics like Charles and John Carroll who helped in the Revolution expressed admiration for the institution and believed ecclesiastical institutions could be of great benefit to the Republic. I share the sentiment and have a policy I'd like to run by you guys. If I had the authority I'd like to slowly phase out government welfare and encourage ecclesiastical bodies to pick up the slack. Religious institutions in almost every culture involved themselves with and monopolized humanitarian operations. The Catholic Church laid the foundation for modern Western healthcare and did it largely free of charge. Easy to do with a wealthy land-owning church with a divine mandate to help the poor and sick. Many American medicines were developed by clergy and monks often made coffins for the poor. With self-sustaining monasteries and subsidies from the government it wasn't hard to manage financially. I'd like to think the US could do something similar. First, organize religious recognition in the US. Establish communication vis-a-vis legates with major religions in the US and encourage groups like Protestants to centralize their organization and doctrinal uniformity. This would cut down on radicalism for all religions and give the Fed and States someone clear to talk to whenever shit hits the fan religiously. Set new criteria for tax exemption. All religious leaders in the US must take an oath of civil obedience to the Union, vowing to never use their clerical position to advocate violent uprising, secession, opposition, or separation from the Union. A clear legal line will be drawn between speech and act. Meaning criticism of the government is acceptable but attacking it physically or encouraging refusal of tax payment or draft-dodging (unless like pacifists who can keep religious exemption) is unacceptable and religious leaders will be held accountable for the actions of their followers alongside their congregations. This will encourage communities to excommunicate radicals or report them to civil authorities. Or better yet prosecute them internally. If churches want tax exempt status they must prove they are putting those funds to good use; at least a portion of the profit that comes from their tax exemption must be used for humanitarian purposes. Food banks, hospitals, homeless shelters, schools for the disadvantaged, works programs for the unemployed in their congregations, etc. all according to the needs of their communities and in cooperation with regional civil authority. They must be non-discriminatory, and evidence of discrimination could lead to tax exemption or fines. America needs moral authority it can trust and what better source than the pulpit? The primary problem is Americans don't trust these institutions. If they provide a valuable civic service that might well change. Whether many will admit it or not most religions also have love for the motherland as a key principle as well as loyalty to civil authority. Forced to maintain these orthodoxies or lose their influence, combined with their work for the community we could see a positive religious revival in this nation and the governments of our Union would have a large slice of their overhead cut off, allowing them to see to infrastructure, crime prevention, etc.. I'd like to expand this to education but how we could give students both a civil and religious education is not a problem I have found a concrete solution to. At most we might ensure the curriculum does not stress to students loyalty to their religious institutions over the state but rather stress how Church and State are equal partners in maintaining the Common Good. What do you think?
