In a country in which the vast majority of citizens pray and believe in God, it surely matters, for purposes of legitimation of power and authority, whether or not God and the Bible, the highest authorities and sources of ideals known to those citizens, are invoked to legitimate political authority. (firstthings.com)
Consistency should require such officials to forbear any hint of religious legitimation for their official duties. (firstthings.com)
Coronations of monarchs were important religious ceremonies because their religious legitimation of particular political rulers expressed Christendom's fundamental claim that the empire's (or nation's) authority and unity was ordained by God. (firstthings.com)