Taking into account that religion is becoming highly significant in contemporary politics, on the ocassion of our "Gena"... some enlightening "words" from the classical "Big" sources....
On the the relations of the state, "religion" and morality. Morality; collective or individual as an essential factor of freedom.
http://classicliberal.tripod.com/humboldt/lsa07.html
"The greater a man’s freedom, the more does he become dependent on himself, and well-disposed towards others. Now, nothing leads us so directly to Deity as benevolent love; and nothing renders the absence of a living belief in God so harmless as self-reliant power—self-sufficing and self-contained. Finally, the higher the feeling of power in man, and the more free and unimpeded its manifestation, the more willingly does he seek to discover some internal bond to lead and direct him; and thus he remains attached to morality, whether this bond is to him a feeling of reverence and love for the Divinity, or the earnest and recompense of his own self-consciousness."
(Wilhelm vo Humboldt (1792);Limits of State Action, Ch VII; Religion)1
1 http://classicliberal.tripod.com/humboldt/lsa07.html
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