ministers, punish the guilty and always are justified in punishing sins “against nature,” and circumstantially justified in punishing sins “against custom” or “against the laws.” The latter two categories of sins change from time to time. In this regard, the institution of the state marks a relative return to order from the chaos of the fall. Rulers have the right to establish any law that does not conflict with the law of God. Citizens must obey their political leaders regardless of whether the leader is wicked or righteous. There is no right of civil disobedience. Citizens are always duty bound to obey God; and when the imperatives of obedience to God and obedience to civil authority conflict, citizens must choose to obey God and willingly…show more content… He treats the church as part of the civil authority and, naturally, it comes within the jurisdiction of civil laws. It cannot claim any special treatment. Any violation of secular law by the priest is to be judged by the judicial department of the government. In this way, Marsilio has reduced the church as a simple department of the secular government. Marsilio painfully observed that instead of devoting to spiritual functions, the church was engaged in amassing property and wealth for the attainment of material and earthly comforts and this was anti-Christianity.
The amount of church property is required to be decided by the necessities of the priests. Naturally, there is no scope for accumulating property. Marsilio also takes away from the hands of the priests, to teach and discipline the public. For this purpose, the church should set up organizations and institutions as well as religious organizations. He is of opinion that this function is to be performed by the secular…show more content… In his writing on religion, he states that religion is beneficial in the creation of political authority and political leaders must support and endorse religion to maintain power. However, Machiavelli criticizes religious institutions that are corrupt, which in that period were involved in politics and turn caused corruption inside the citizenry and divisions in the state. This essay will examine Machiavelli's analysis of religion and discuss the relationship between religion and politics in Machiavelli's texts. In the subject of Machiavelli's view on religion's relationship to the political authority, he feels religion is a double-edged blade where an excess of religion in government is detrimental but the appearance of religion is not only part of government that is not only beneficial but is instead necessary. Machiavelli wrote that a political leader, “should appear, upon seeing and hearing him, to be all mercy, all faithfulness, all integrity, all religion. And there is nothing more necessary than to seem to possess this last quality." Machiavelli's argument revolves around the assertion that using all of the above characteristics and at all times is detrimental a political leader must employ antithetical measures to maintain the loyalty and unity of their
