ABSTRACT
Government acts on the border of private and public life, yet it forms its own border with religion. Religion is a constant reminder of the unity of public and private, but also of the boundary between them. This chapter examines these borders in some depth, mapping their contours and the legal and illegal transactions across them. It demonstrates how keeping religion and politics in connection through tension balances the strengths and weaknesses of each. In particular, a life of tension avoids four perversions that occur when the tension is relaxed. Although religion is linked to culture and frequently coopted by it, the 'higher' religions and religions with more reflective traditions emphatically suggest tension with culture. The inherent dynamic of religion's orientation to a transcendent source of being, independent of human control, opens the path toward cultural conflict. As much as culture takes on itself divine color, it cannot hide its human roots.
