<img width="1024" height="682" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A street sign on a light post indicating the cover of Church Street and State Avenue" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1 780w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&ssl=1&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw – 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" data-attachment-id="336273" data-permalink="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-istock-via-getty-images-plus/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1" data-orig-size="2000,1333" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="religion_conversation-only_cosmonaut-iStock-via-Getty-Images-Plus" data-image-description="
Conversation Only
” data-image-caption=”
History offers plenty of lessons about what happens when governments support faith groups – and it doesn’t always help them. cosmonaut/iStock via Getty Images Plus
