We confess to offering little in the way of juridicial steps for resolving the problem of the relationship between church and state in America. Indeed, we are not concerned with positing any theories of “the state” at all, for we have found that when ” the state” is given abstract theoretical status, too often the way os paved for underwriting very concrete forms of violence. we do not seek to provide Christians with a better theory about states but rather to help Christians discover the habits of resistance we need in order to resist that state called the United States, whose power remains virtually unchecked precisely becuase it alleges to be a “limited” state.

From Stanley Hauerwas, In Good Company, p. 214

Such is why I appreciate so much the theological writings of Stanley Hauerwas. The church is the “public” to which Christians are to view anything posing as “state”; purporting to represent or to protect ultimate values (ie. “our way of life”, usually unmistakingly associated with “freedom” and “prosperity” and “uninpeded progress” to determine our own “buying patterns”). From inside the church, such claims are recognized as false claims.