The principle that we ought to obey God rather than man has been interpreted by Christians in two different ways. God's commands may be conveyed to the individual conscience either directly, or indirectly through the medium of the Church. No one except Henry VIII and Hegel has ever held, until our own day, that they could be conveyed through the medium of the State. Christian teaching has thus involved a weakening of the State, either in favour of the right of private judgment, or in favour of the Church.
Source: Power, a new social analysis, 1938, by Bertrand Russell
More info.:
https://russell-j.com/beginner/POWER07_040.HTM
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