Denominations and Positive Nonintervention

The theory of positive nonintervention was practiced by Sir John Cowperthwaite as he served as the finance minister of Hong Kong. He believed that "In the long run, the aggregate of decisions of individual businessmen, exercising individual judgment in a free economy, even if often mistaken, is less likely to do harm than the centralized decisions of a government, and certainly the harm is likely to be counteracted faster." The result was that Hong Kong was turned from poverty into an economic power and poverty was cut in half.

I wonder if this is true with regard to the relationship between denominations and it's churches. Cowperthwaite had to resist extreme pressure to support government programs to tackle some of their problems. These programs where well intentioned but against his beliefs in Adam Smith's free market ideas.

I think good intentions can be dangerous. It is easy to find ourselves going along with them when we should actually stick to principles. Is positive nonintervention a good principle for a denomination?