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Full Series

God and Government
October 01, 2013

Every government on earth has its own approach to religion. Some see it as a partner, others see it as a threat. Some choose official faiths, others scorn that idea. We'll go to 14 nations around the world, meeting people whose lives have been shaped by the ways their countries balance religion and state.

Our series producers are Jocelyn Frank and Jonathan Miller, and our content consultant is Elizabeth Shakman
Hurd. We're supported by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.

India: In the Studio With 'The Mystify Sound'

India is soaked in religion. It’s the proud birthplace of many religious traditions: Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism and Hinduism. And it continues to be a spiritual mixing bowl. The Mystify Sound band join us in the studio to bring the spiritual richness of India to life, through Indian classical melodies, Hindu devotionals, and other tunes.

Debu Nayak, tabla
Craig Phillips, sitar
Adnan Masood, keyboard
Nistha Raj, violin
Nauman Ahmed, vocals and harmonium

Created with flickr slideshow.

Web Extra: Listen to their full music session.

Britain: Why It Has a State Church

A look at the nation from which both the United States and Canada sprang. Though Britons have freedom of religion, they also have an established church, which Henry VIII created in the 1530s after his break from the Pope.

Linda Woodhead, professor in the department of politics, philosophy and religion at Lancaster University
Matthew Engelke, professor in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics

Britain: Can It Still Afford Hospital Chaplains?

Britain employs more than a thousand hospital chaplains, who do everything from pray at patients' bedsides to console grieving family members. Like other staff in Britain's free health care system, the National Health Service, their salaries are funded by taxpayers. But with more and more Britons claiming no religion and health care costs rising, the job of the venerable hospital chaplain may be in jeopardy.

Produced by Kim Normanton with series producer Jocelyn Frank
Pictured: Mark Burleigh, head of chaplaincy at Leicester University Hospitals.

North America: A Work in Progress

There are a few dozen words in the U.S. Constitution about religion - and they're kind of cryptic. How does our country of 300 million people figure out its entire religion-state arrangement with this handful of phrases? Canada's official balance of religion and government is just as murky, and perhaps that's a blessing.

Jacques Berlinerblau, associate professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University
Marc DeGirolami, associate director at the Center for Law and Religion at St. John's University
Lori Beaman, professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa