Erasing the Line - Politics

Here follows an excerpt from Matron Nightingale’s seminal treatise on the relationships between religion, social care and the European state: Suggestions for Faith.

Is religion necessary for effective healing? I would say yes.

In our modern world of technological prowess and arcane innovation there are those who argue that there is little time remaining for the Old Gods. Such people suggest that religious observances which predate our draconic protectors must necessarily harbour an echo of the corruption from those times. I would humbly counter this with the assertion that by its very nature, religion manifests in active care and love for others and I ask, if a close relationship with Zeus, Hera or any of the pantheon were so reprehensible, why would the state grant such autonomy to our religious institutions?.

The answer, I would say, is that only followers of the pantheon are able to provide the healing so badly needed by the population. Through their divine commune the clerics of these orders are able to provide healing to huge numbers of people, irrespective of their Meritocratic association and thus it remains in the interests of humanity that the stewards continue to pay their tithes that the funds might be used to heal agents and civilians alike.

In farther flung realms of the world there are any number of other gods but these are mere permutations of our very own pantheon and as such they deserve an equal treatment by the state. For the alternative of secular health workers, concerned only with their advancement within the state hierarchy leads to inferior care.

Our current system of association between state and religion allows for the creation of hospital care throughout the civilised world. Yes  it prioritises agents as a condition of the tithe, but in so doing it allows us to care for the poor, meek and mild and surely it is better for us to provide care for all using divine magics than only for some without?