Almost everyone can agree that tax-supported churches are a bad idea. This is a common view in America. However, most people approve of tax-supported schools. But, are tax-supported churches and tax-supported schools actually different in principle? There are many similarities between the two, so why don’t they receive the same scrutiny.
Tax-Supported Churches
As I said, most people agree this would be a bad practice and for good reason. If the state funded churches with taxes, then the churches would fall under state control. Whoever funds an operation is ultimately the one with control. Imagine if you were dependent on a government check to keep your business afloat, then you would do what the government told you to do to get that check. If they commanded you to jump up and down and touch your nose, you would because that is the only way for you to fund your business. The old saying is right: He who pays the piper calls the tune.
This control would definitely be detrimental to churches. The state is not concerned with our salvation. They will pervert the teachings of the church and use it to their advantage. The state would use the churches to reinforce the legitimacy of the state in the eyes of the people. They will make people think they have a divine-right to be their overlords. And I hate to break it to you, but the fact is, governments are not benevolent. They do not have your best interests at heart. Politicians and bureaucrats are just as imperfect and self-interested as everyone else. As such, they will certainly use the church in this way because it benefits them.
Tax-Supported Schools
If you think about it, schools aren’t much different from churches in this area. Schools impute certain worldviews unto the students and exclude others. They also teach certain systems of historical cause and effect and exclude all others. They also have a major influence on the mindset of the students. Churches do much the same thing except the context of the teaching is different. Just like churches, schools can also be used by governments to their advantage.
Governments will use schools to mold students like a lump of clay. They will manipulate the students to believe that the government is legitimate. Their goal is to make students think that the government is necessary for a pleasant society, but it is not. They are trying to hide the fact that they are a leech on society.
(Now I am sure there is someone out there claiming that we, the people, are the ones in control of schools because we pay for them through school taxes. Not only can this be refuted by looking at how tax-supported schools are actually run in history, but also through theoretical analysis. We are forced to pay school taxes under the threat of coercion by governments. We can not control how the funds are used because we are forced to supply them. If a criminal steals all the money in your wallet, you can not tell him how to use the money even though you supplied it. The same principle goes for governments.)
Conclusion
Tax-supported churches and tax-supported schools are not very different. They perform the same function of legitimizing the state in the eyes of the people. Whether the state controls the education of students in school or the religious education of people in church they will always use it to their advantage. So, people should not consider tax-funded schools legitimate just as tax-funded churches are not.
Leave a Reply