A state religion and a national religion are two different things. A nation may, with more or less universal concurrence, accept a certain type of religion - as the people of the United States for the most part accept Christianity - yet they may not commit to their government the task either of representing officially or of maintaining financially their religion. In that case it is a national but not a state religion. Wherever, on the other hand, we witness either establishment or endowment committed to the government - even if, as in Ireland till 1869, the religion thus favored is very far from being national - there we have the spectacle of a state religion.