[Buddha-l] David Lynch and Paul McCartney promote TM in schools

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Kdorje at aol.com schreef:
>  
> Many forget, or are not aware, that separation of church and state as a  
> central foundation of government is, if not unique to the US, the US  is one of 
> the very few countries where it has the importance that it does.   In the UK and 
> most other European countries the governments financially support  the 
> various religions, and religious beliefs are taught in public (that is,  
> governmentally funded) schools as religion, not as a social science.
>  
> Best wishes,
>  
> Konchog Dorje
>   
The situation in Europe is rather complex. To hold a Christian service and to invoke God during the inauguration of a president would be thought of as highly inapropriate and a sign of religious bigotry in most European countries. So the separation in the U.S. is far from perfect in European eyes. 
In France the duplex ordo is very strict. In the U.K. situation is more vague, because hte queen is the head of the Anglican Church. In Germany some liasons exist on local level. In Italy and Portugal the Pope has real influence, but in Spain there's a strong atheist movement. The Churches in Skandinavia don't seem to have much political influence. Whereas in the Netherlands the separation is corrupted by the fact that the queen is traditionally protestant and there's still a considerable rural support for the Christian party who wants to undo the separation. The fact that religous groups are sponsored doesn't mean that religion takes part in politics as long as every religion is treated equally. Sports and arts are sponsored as well.

Erik

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