Should State Should Collect Church Tax on Behalf of Churches?

Politics essay: What is the relationship between religion and politics. What is a secular state?
In order to understand the relationship between religion and politics please choose one of the following questions; answer on 2-3 pages excluding title and references;
· Should the state in Germany really collect the taxes for Churches? Explain the origin of the practice and its criticism.
· Should Ontario really have a Catholic School system? Explain the origin of the practice, how other provinces addressed it and the current discussion with regard to secularization and discrimination.
· Should we have sharia courts in Ontario for family issues?
· Should the Diyanet in Turkey write Friday sermons for the mosques?
· Is the United States now a theocracy with regard to reproductive rights for women?
· Should religious movements pay income tax or be exempt since they are charitable organizations? See this case: https://www(dot)newslaundry(dot)com/2021/05/19/trick-of-the-trade-how-sadhgurus-isha-foundation-evades-paying-taxes - in this context is scientology a business that should pay taxes? prosperity gospel pastors are famous for their many jets.

Evaluation: we will have a discussion and texts about secularism and secularization in the class. This needs to be integrated in this essay as well as the understanding of religion adopted in this course.
Summary of class discussion:
Why IR did not study religion?
Westphalian presumption Scott Thomas (in Schwarz and Lynch)
Development of the modern state: sovereignty, authority, control.
Development of an international society of states in Europe and its diffusion globally
Definition of international society by Hedley Bull (English School).
What is International studies? (BA Stephen Walt)
Secularization - development of secular nationalism
End of secularization through religious resurgence since (end of Cold War (1989) or even earlier).
End of Westphalian international society through the proliferation of other actors (international organisation, non-state actors …)
End of modernity through the development of post-modernity - relativism, post-colonialism.
The idea of a secular westphalian international society that ended with the resurgence of religion and the emergence of new actors in world politics is problematic for three reasons.
The sovereign centralized state did not emerge with the Peace of Westphalia but earlier. The historical account is problematic.
Religion was not privatized and individualized but still played a major role during the modern period. The essentialist approach to religion that has developed in International Studies needs to be reconsidered. The official story that I just explained to you has developed what one of our readings, Tanya Schwarz and Cecelia Lynch have called “enlighentment assumptions” about religion which essentialize religion. They propose several alternative approaches. Another approach comes from neo-Gramscian theory. Key to understand is the mutually constitutive nature of secularization and religiosity and to analyse “religious” action in context.
The modern period is characterized by massive changes that need to be periodized in itself. What ended with the Cold war/1970s was a configuration that emerged in the 1930s not modernity as such.
The goal for today is to understand the dominant approach to the study of religion and its critique. We will also discuss some alternatives to the dominant approach.
In the pictures you will see the readings for the class they should be included in the essay but should not be the references we need at least 8 other references