Religious Jurisdiction Quotes
King Henry VIII had left the Roman Catholic church and taken England and Ireland out also. He replaced the Pope as the head of the English and Irish churches. There was much opposition in Ireland and the priests were the most assertive opponents to the change and were still loyal to the Pope. Queen Elizabeth continued to have problems with the Priests. James I, Elizabeth’s successor, became fed up by the Roman Catholic Priests and therefor issued this Proclamation.
William the Conqueror. This is one of the earliest government action separating some church functions from state functions.
This was before the state had officially sanctioned and accepted the church. Most of the institutions were pagan and the kings had subjects of both religions with Christianity not yet dominant. Yet among Christians, the Church had government temporal power, even before the church was allied with the state.
The Supreme Court limited authority of religious courts to matters where both parties belonged to the religion. Jewish courts had tried to assert the power to annul mixed marriages where only one party was Jewish on the grounds that orthodox Jews oppose mixed marriage. Conflict between religious & civil courts has existed ever since there have been civil courts. Historically there was no separation & the Religious Courts in ancient Israel, early Christendom & Islam had universal jurisdiction. As Europe’s civil authorities wrested authority from religious courts, modernity has diminished or eliminated the legal jurisdiction of religious courts. Even in the United States there are courts operated by some religions; if members wish to voluntarily submit their disputes, they can. In most Islamic countries & Israel there are religious courts which have some authority over family & purely religious matters & in Muslim theocracies the religious courts are the only courts as in ancient times.
Muslims are divided about the role of the Islamic religious courts. Some believed that these should be the only courts and should govern all law, religious and civil on the grounds that there are no real differences in Islam. Others believe, as Jammal put forth, that religious courts should only deal with religious and personal matters. Still others believe that these is no place in modern society for religious courts. This debate echoes the debate that took place in Christianity and Judaism, but the vast majority of these have concluded that there is no place for religious courts
Muslims were in the majority and there was a sizable Jewish Community in Libya. Ironically, the objection to religious law having any jurisdiction has usually been that civil rights were denied. However, the same was true (in different ways) with Fascist law.
As enlightened as this statement is, it was not always a part of Mormon doctrine. When Brigham Young was head of the church he also served as Governor of the Utah Territory, and the separation of church and state was not so clear. In modern times however, the Mormon views have been the quintessential views of most Americans—Mormon or otherwise.
