Religious Freedom and State Secularization: US and French Revolutions

Liberalism: Religious Liberty and Separatism

Evolution Towards Secularization

Of the two principles in the modern age, there will be an evolution of liberalism toward the secularization of the state and separatism. The secular state will be separate from religion, and it will start to recognize the right to religious freedom.

There are two great liberal revolutions: the French and American. Both have declarations of rights that recognize the right of religious freedom.

Liberal revolutions have different characteristics because of their history.

The American Revolution

The makers of the revolution were not...

The formation of the colonies was done by immigrants fleeing religious intolerance in Europe who wanted peaceful coexistence.

These principles were set, rather than responding to major theoretical principles, as a practical necessity for coexistence.

The only way to live peacefully together is to recognize everyone's freedom to practice their religion, and the only way for this to happen is for the state to be separate from religion.

These American colonists were people with strong religious convictions who valued religion positively and wished to coexist peacefully.

This leads to the first declaration of rights, the Virginia Declaration of 1776, the first legal text which recognizes religious freedom, religion, and responsibility.

Along with this principle, separation is necessary to achieve religious freedom.

And these two principles, freedom of religion and separatism, will inspire the U.S. Constitution, still in force, in 1787.

In the First Amendment (among ten others) to the Constitution of 1791, two clauses were set out: the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause.

The Catholic Church in France

Liberal revolutionaries sought to liberate society from the influence of religion. This, in the name of religious freedom, led to actions taken as religious persecution, such as banning classroom instruction.

There is a negative conception of religious law.

In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789, religious freedom is included in somewhat different terms.

Article 10 states: "No one may be disturbed for his opinions."

This is a recognition of religious freedom as freedom of religious opinion.

Since separatism is conceived in the French liberal revolution as a way to free the individual from religion, the state adopted a series of anti-religious measures: the prohibition of religious orders, the teaching of religion, the nationalization of church property, etc. This is known by the name of liberal jurisdictionalism.

The intervention of the liberal state was done with a desire to separate society from Catholicism, and religious freedom was minimized.

These two historical conceptions remain dormant at present.

Religious liberalism provides a negative aspect of religious life.

Softening of Hostility

Logically, this attitude of religious hostility led to a rejection of the Church toward the liberal state. This confrontation would soften, in fact, and Napoleon, in an effort to pacify society, signed a Concordat with the Holy See, in particular with Pope Pius VII in 1801.

That radical hostility softened, and the Church, in turn, modified its positions and came to recognize as its own the principles of liberalism in the Second Vatican Council. The Declaration of Human Dignity (Dignitatis Humanae) is a solemn declaration on religious freedom.