I suppose I'm something of an outlier here, but I remember asking my old pastor years ago about his opinion on the separation of church and state. His reply? "It comes straight from the devil."
If you want to give enemies of the Church the right to negate anything the church teaches from being part of civil life, just let them quote "separation of church and state". Witness the holocaust of abortion for example, more and more enshrined in politically based law, and now there's a push for euthanasia (although that's not as clear cut as abortion in my opinion).
Politics is difficult at any time, but vacating the field just leaves it open for non-Christian and non-Catholic values to flourish. If we're fortunate enough to live in some form of democracy, I think those Catholics who have the gift of being able to handle the rough and tumble of politics should consider entering it. But first of all they need to understand the ethics of the church.
If we live in a regime where the church is banned or controlled, we're seeing the logical end result of the "separation of church and state".
Why should God be pushed out of civic life?
