Rather as in the economic sphere competing private companies tend to produce wealth and activity, whereas monopoly firms have the opposite effect, so in the religious sphere competing sects generate a ferment of activity and increased levels of belief, whereas state churches produce indifference.
The centre-right government of Viktor Orban, which would love a pre-electoral seal of conservative approval from them, has introduced new religious holidays and promised new state money for churches.
Long before the idea took hold in the West that extending education to the masses was a responsibility of the state, the churches had come to see it as part of their mission.
And they require more than the state to step in: commerce and churches are just as important.
For quite a few Christian churches, ties to the state are a vital crutch, without which they would be jaded and weak.
The Equalities Minister, Maria Miller told MPs last December that "the legislation will explicitly state that it would be illegal for the Churches of England and Wales to marry same-sex couples".
Mrs Miller said the Church of England and Church in Wales had "explicitly stated" their opposition to offering same-sex ceremonies, so the government would "explicitly state that it will be illegal for the Churches of England and Wales to marry same-sex couples".
"I believe the state has a duty to provide services for citizens on an equal basis, and at the same time, the state has a duty to protect the rights of churches to define and practice their own beliefs, " he said.
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In most European countries, except secular France, Christian churches have inherited a privileged link with the state.
Meanwhile, just to the north of Denver is Greeley, site of the state's school of education, strong-boned churches and the richly landscaped homes of Colorado's Front Range technocrats.
He said the state and maintained education sectors would remain for as long as churches, parents and children wanted them.
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This matters because religious schools (run by churches, but mostly financed by taxpayers) are the best state schools in London.
Thanks to the separation of church and state, the country has nothing comparable to, say, the Catholic churches of Italy and Spain, or the Church of England.
So I helped work with local churches in the region to -- and public school officials to get state funding for dropout prevention programs, and brought together African American and Latino leaders to help set up after-school programs -- because when we help keep kids off the street, when we give them a productive way to spend their time, then graduation rates go up.
South of Indianapolis, the state feels more like Kentucky and the old South, its hilly landscape dotted with livestock, roadside churches and small rural towns such as Martinsville, where, one could reasonably estimate, tattoos outnumber people.
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