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France is a good example of how a close relationship between the church and the state to not lead to a moral society. France, or a portion of French society, was rebelling against the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. After about a century, the French had one of the most morally correct societies in the New World (at least for that time period). The French treated the Native Americans with a fair amount of respect and their citizens with even more.

William Dozier

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I do not believe that a close relationship between the church and the state leads to a more moral society. A close relationship between the two can easily lead to religious pressure or limited religious freedoms, which is how many historical conflicts have occurred. Throughout history, many of the biggest empires and strongest countries have been those that have allowed the freedom to be religious, or not, in any form. Genghis Khan's and Alexander the Great's Empires come to mind as successful religiously tolerant states.
-Charlotte Grace

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Personally I do not believe that a close relationship between the state and the church would lead to a moral society. One example of that is that the country of Spain which was a predominantly an only catholic religion country gave an explorer Christopher Columbus the money to go to what they thought was the new land but had him convert the natives to Christianity and if they would not they would be murdered or the men were used as slaves while the women and children were sexually abused and in general the natives were being mistreated. Another example is that the British were better then the Spanish but not any more decent people than the Spanish, they banished natives from the land because they wanted it for themself and did not think of the malprecautions that it would lead to.

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Personally I do not believe that a close relationship between the state and the church would lead to a moral society. One example of that is that the country of Spain which was a predominantly an only catholic religion country gave an explorer Christopher Columbus the money to go to what they thought was the new land but had him convert the natives to Christianity and if they would not they would be murdered or the men were used as slaves while the women and children were sexually abused and in general the natives were being mistreated. Another example is that the British were better then the Spanish but not any more decent people than the Spanish, they banished natives from the land because they wanted it for themself and did not think of the malprecautions that it would lead to.

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Veronica TOrres

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I don't believe that a combination of church and state leads to a moral civilization. For example, as Spain started moving into native lands and establishing outposts, a large part of their settlement was to convert these "savages" to god fearing people like themselves. In doing so, they forced a religion that was not wanted on the native peoples who had lived for thousands of years with their own spiritual beliefs. The settlers who believed so strongly in Christianity tossed their own morals out the window in order to force baptisms and conversions using violence. They had become so absorbed in the forcing of religion that they no long took heed of what they were teaching, ignoring their own morals to push their religion on others.

Eli

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I don’t think that a close relationship between church and state always leads to a more moral society. For example, the Spanish conquistadores came from Spain, which had a very close relationship between church and state, and this is also the country that sponsored Christopher Columbus. In fact, one of their motivations for conquering the Americas was to convert people to Christianity. However, they were not moral, because they killed, enslaved, and forcibly converted many native Americans.
-Rebecca

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For the Spanish, I do not think that having a close relationship with the church was moral because they dispatched conquistadors to "conquer" the Native American Empires and they sent catholic missionaries to convert Natives. There was a lot of brutality involved  in these "conversions". The English also had no respect for the Native American cultures and began to take more land by "expelling" the Natives. However, I think that the French were moral because they respected them as human beings. The French viewed American Indians as political, economic, and military allies. Although the Spanish were not moral at first, I believe that they were once they established basic arguments on behalf of justice for Native Americans through the Valladolid Debate.

Cate

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I do not think that a close relationship between church and state lead to a moral society because of the Spanish empire. First, the Spanish settlers were quick to pillage the villages and enslave many of the Native Americans meaning that the settlers, who were religious, did not engage in moral behaviors. This confirms the fact that a moral society  does not relate to the relationship between church and state. Second, latter in the Spanish empire the owners of the sugar and tobacco plantation as well as the gold mines used slaves from Africa to do all of the labor. This is also not moral and many of the people who ran these plantations and mines were upper class and therefore likely religious meaning that the relationship between church and state does not lead to a moral society.
Claire

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Spain, after having reclaimed Cordoba from Muslims in 1492, needed funds and better trade routes in order to run a new kingdom under Catholic jurisprudence. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand requested Columbus to chart a new way to China, giving him what funds they had taken from the Muslims before them. Another reason was to spread Catholicism internationally, increasing the influence of the Pope. When Columbus found the New World, Conquistadoras would be sent to claim territory after the Treaty signed with Portugal. There was forced conversion and sacriligious actions committed against the Native peoples, all with the support of the Church. Religion is not a bad thing, but in this instance it became an excuse to use, pillage, and spread influence to people who were seen as heatheness and exploitable.  Conclusively, there was no moral relationship. Only a very oppressive one.

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Spain, after having reclaimed Cordoba from Muslims in 1492, needed funds and better trade routes in order to run a new kingdom under Catholic jurisprudence. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand requested Columbus to chart a new way to China, giving him what funds they had taken from the Muslims before them. Another reason was to spread Catholicism internationally, increasing the influence of the Pope. When Columbus found the New World, Conquistadoras would be sent to claim territory after the Treaty signed with Portugal. There was forced conversion and sacriligious actions committed against the Native peoples, all with the support of the Church. Religion is not a bad thing, but in this instance it became an excuse to use, pillage, and spread influence to people who were seen as heatheness and exploitable.  Conclusively, there was no moral relationship. Only a very oppressive one.

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Yusuf

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Does having a relationship between church and state lead to a moral society?

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Does having a relationship between church and state lead to a moral society?

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I don't believe that a close relationship with the Church and State leads to a moral society. We have seen in the past like when the Spaniards tried to enforce Christianity onto the Indians, and it did not end well. Often times a revolt transpires, or a religious war like we saw in the Middle Ages in Europe. When Church and State are separated, it allows for people to live the way they want and practice their own independent religion that they believe in.  The Spaniards killed the Indians over not converting, and cut off the foot of the ones who revolted in attempt to not be put in a hostile position by the Spanish. I believe everyone should have the right to practice what they want and hold their own beliefs, and not be punished for them.
Jip

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Does having a relationship between church and state lead to a moral society?

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Does having a relationship between church and state lead to a moral society?

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I don't think having a relationship between church and state inherently leads to a moral society. This is mainly due to the fact that there are people who may commit heinous acts under the guise of religion. An example of this would be Columbus coming to the Americas and massacring the native people for God, Gold, and Glory.

-Noah