They have pointed to the role of Protestantism, Pietism, and even of Catholicism in fostering the sense of national destiny, in giving religious sanction to the imperialist programs of kings and democracies, in justifying nationalist wars and in blessing armies bound on conquest. (religion-online.org)
This time she found seventeen fellow Democrats to join her in explaining to the pope that «Religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America — it clashes with freedomsguaranteed in our Constitution. (faith.org.uk)
Here again Bonhoeffer is concerned not to provide religious sanction for some worldly movement but to discern the form of Christ's work in the world and bear witness to it by our own words and actions. (religion-online.org)