Demosophist;
You are not exactly a Christian, I take it. However, if you are, let me gently instruct you in your erroneous thoughts, brother.
The incident involving separation of church and state as recorded in the Gospels seems, superficially at least, to be, as you say, about coinage. Jesus is asked about paying taxes, He points out that the coins used come from Caesar (and have Caesar’s face on them); since they use Roman coins, they should pay Roman taxes.
However, let me draw your attention to the fact that the American Revolution was triggered by the Boston Tea Party, and that the popular catchcry is still ‘no taxes without representation’, suggesting that in some way, taxes and government had something to do with each other. To be more specific, the tax collector represents the government, since without the taxes, government cannot function.
Indeed, the first sign that something more than simple civil disobedience is on the way is usually the group refusal to pay taxes. Not tax evasion or avoidance, but tax denial from an entire segment of society, or the whole society. It is debatable whether or not you can call yourself a government at all if you do not collect some kind of tax/tariff/assessment/fee. The government sees this power to tax as traditionally arrogated to itself and views very dimly any effort to usurp it.
In the incident involving Jesus, His enemies thought it a two-pronged sword. Should He advocate paying taxes, then He would lose His popularity amongst the people, since the taxes were crushing and the Jews did not really accept the Roman authority over them. Should He, however, advocate not paying taxes, then He is an insurrectionist and they can report Him as such – let the Romans deal with Him afterwards.
When Jesus did and said what He did and said, He pretty much established the separation of church and state; not only that the church should not interfere with the workings of the state, but also vice versa. But there is yet a higher principle here; We are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Hence, if we disagree with certain state-made laws, and we choose civil disobedience in obedience to God’s higher laws, we are to accept the consequences for this.
Islam cannot conceive of this. Because in Islam, the ‘church’ and the ‘state’ are one and the same thing. You cannot, in an Islamic society, in an Islamic state, disobey the state without also disobeying Allah. Which is why the damned punishments are so bloody ridiculous, and why even the act of Christian worship requires a licence and a permit.
