The City Of God By St. Augustine

The City of God is another interesting excerpt written by St. Augustine. This passage dates back to Early Roman times and was written as a rebuttal to pagans who blamed their recent calamities on the Christian God. In this reading selection, Augustine discusses the belief of predestination which states that citizens of the City of Man were doomed to hell, while the citizens of the City of God were destined for heaven. The constant tug-of-war between The City of God and The City of Man's idealistic/religions led to the segregation of the city as a whole. Although Augustine laid down principles for separation of church and state in hopes of bringing about reunification between the societies, peace is unattainable because each side is fighting for a different type of peace.
In The City
True peace is unattainable because both sides believe their religion is superior to the other. The passage also entertains the idea of separation of church and state but true separation is impossible because of the Heavenly Society. "The earthly city, whose life is not based on faith, aims at an earthly peace, and it limits the harmonious agreement of citizens concerning the giving and obeying of orders to the establishment..." (Augustine 182). The Heavenly Society is unable to live in peace with the Earthly City because their beliefs counteract that of their own. One cannot claim to be of royal lineage but live like a peasant. In other words, they cannot claim to be Christian but then do things that compromise the Christian religion. This is a problem that still lives on in society today. The Earthly City's definition of peace is to abolish all that concerns the Christian God/religion while the Heavenly Society's definition of peace is to make the two beliefs co-exist without denying anyone of their own beliefs but the two can never