Religion and Politics: The European Experience

September 29, 2004

Religion and Politics: The European Experience

Secularization

Separation of Religion and Politics

Religious Freedom and Toleration

Three Types of Secularization

Forced Secularization

Private Secularization

Institutional Secularization

Institutional Secularization

Secular vs. Religious Law

State Welfare vs. Religious Charity

State Schools vs. Religious Schools

State Church vs. Religious Pluralism

State Religion vs. Religious Freedom

Civic Nationalism vs. Confessional Nationalism

Toleration and Religious Pluralism Religious Belief No Bar to Public Office

Religious Discrimination Outlawed in Private Life

Religious Claims in Politics Are Not Trumps

All Faiths Are Equal

All Faiths Are Tolerated

The Diversity of European Secularization Western Europe vs. Eastern Europe

Protestant Europe vs. Catholic Europe

Private Secularization and Religious Establishment: UK and Norway

Private Secularization and Religious Parties: Italy and Germany

Education and the State

Education and the State: Spain

Spain has no national law against wearing religious symbols in schools.

Education and the State: Britain Britain does not have a law against wearing

religious symbols in schools. Schools can insist on a uniform, but only if the policy is not aimed at a particular religion.

Education and the State: Germany Germany has no national ban against headscarves or other

religious symbols in schools, but many states have enacted such bans.

The German Supreme Court ruled in September 2003 that a woman could not be denied a teaching job for insisting on wearing her headscarf in the classroom.

Six of sixteen states have responded by passing laws that bar teachers and/or civil servants from wearing headscarves while at work.

Some of these state laws apply to all religious symbols, while others focus explicitly on Muslim symbols or make exceptions for Christian ones.

Education and the State: France The state funds private religious education,

including both Catholic and Muslim schools.

A March 2004 law prohibits the display of “ostensive religious symbols” in public schools. The new law covers Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, Sikh turbans, and large crosses.

Religion, State and Nation: The Historical Experience

Religion Provides Social Cohesion Prior to Emergence of Centralizing Monarchies

Centralizing States Must Control Religion In Order to Establish National Authority

Confessional Identity is the Root of National Identity

Some States Create National Authority By Religious Exclusion

Other States Create National Authority by Religious Toleration

Case Study: Spain

1453: Fall of Constantinople

1469: Union of Aragon and Castile

1478: State Control of the Inquisition

1492: Christian Capture of Granada

1492: Expulsion of the Jews

1492: Publication of First Vernacular Grammar in Spanish

1492: Columbus Arrives in the New World

1609: Expulsion of Moriscos

Themes

State Allies With but Also Subordinates the Church to Create National Unity

State Formation Through Exclusion: Jews and Moriscos

State Formation Through Empire

Protestantism as Politics

A Popular Revolt Against Church Authority

The Priesthood of All Believers

The Congregation vs. the Church

Render Unto Caesar. . .

The Role of the Godly Magistrate

Case Study: Germany

Protestantism Fragments Germany

Reformers Ally with Secular Princes to Survive the Peasants and the Catholic Counter-Attack

Reformers and the Godly Magistrate

1559: Peace of Augsburg. Cuius Regio Eius Religio

1648: Treaty of Westphalia. Sovereignty as Non-Interference in the Religious Politics of Other States

Case Study: England

1520: Protestant Reformation

1534: Henry VIII Defies the Papacy over Marriage

Tudor State Nationalizes the English Church

1550’s: Marian Persecutions

1580: Elizabeth Excommunicated by Pope

1588: Elizabeth Defeats Catholic Spain

Protestantism and English National Identity

1600-1640: Consolidation of Monarchical Authority vs. Protestant Popular Resistance

1640-1660: Civil War as a Defeat Both for Puritan Extremism and Monarchical Absolutism

1660: Limited Toleration as the Basis of Civil Order

Themes

State Formation Means Putting the Church in its Place

Putting the Church in its Place Provokes Conflict with Rome and Spain

External Enemies (Spain, Papacy) Enhance Protestant Religio-Nationalist Identity

Religious Civil War Establishes Limits on Monarchical Power; Limits on Religious Power

Toleration and Political Promise Keeping

Persistence of Protestantism as Basis of Exclusionary National Identity: Northern Ireland

France

1520: Protestantism Challenges the Catholic Church and the King

1540-1598: Civil War Devastates France

1598: Edict of Nantes: Limited Toleration for Protestants

1660-1714: Louis XIV Subdues the Church, Defeats the Nobility, Fights Protestant Holland

State Nationalizes Grain Supply, Poor Relief, Taxation and Administration

1685: Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: “One King, One Law, One Faith”

1789: La République One and Indivisible. “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”—and Secularité

Themes

Revolution Continues the Monarchy’s Project of One Nation, One Law, One People.

Identity is Secularized: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Citizens Are Created by the State: The Ideal of Secular Education

Religion is Private, Politics is Public

Political Debate Must be Secular

The Future of Faith and Politics in Europe Continuing Private Secularization of Faith

Increasing Salience of Islam in Europe

Religious Freedom vs. State Authority

Religious Pluralism vs. National Unity

The Lesson of the European Experience State Formation and Secularization

Religion as a Source of Conflict

Toleration by Exhaustion

Pluralism and Religious Claims in Politics

Religions as Interest Groups