Although culture is an orientating factor for many aspects of the society, in a broader extent, it is the state that plays an inportant role in determinig the status of culture. In other words, culture could be controlled and supervised by rulers. This article tries to explore the status of culture from Islamic and liberal point of views and answers to the question that what is the status of state in the sphere of culture? The hypothesis made by the authors states that "given the minimum definitions of state in liberal reading, state take simply an administrative and sometimes observing role in the sphere of culture, but given the maximum definition of state in Islamic approach, in addition to an administrative role, state implement culture-building practices and controls the different aspects of culture in the society". Due to the multiplicity of cultural components in which state can interfere, this article addresses only four fields, namely, education, religion, art and media, to explore how Islamic and liberal states manage cultural issues in the society
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