Separation of church and state
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The separation of church and state is a concept defining the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state. It may refer to creating a secular state, with or without explicit reference to such separation, or to changing an existing relationship of church involvement in a state (disestablishment).
Although the concept of separation has been adopted in a number of countries, there are varying degrees of separation depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper relationship between religion and politics. While a country's policy may be to have a definite distinction between church and state bodies, there may be an "arm's length distance" relationship in which the two entities interact as independent organizations. A similar but typically stricter principle of laïcité has been applied in France and Turkey, while some socially secularized countries such as Denmark and the United Kingdom have maintained constitutional recognition of an official state religion. The concept parallels various other international social and political ideas, including secularism, disestablishmentarianism, religious liberty, and religious pluralism. Whitman (2009) observes that in many European countries, the state has, over the centuries, taken over the social roles of the church, leading to a generally secularized public sphere.
The degree of separation varies from total separation mandated by a constitution, as in India and Singapore, to an official religion with total prohibition of the practice of any other religion, as in the Maldives.
See also
American examples
- First Amendment to the United States Constitution
- Separation of church and state in the United States
Historical:
- William Bradford (1590-1657), Plymouth Colony
- Roger Williams (theologian), Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- William Penn, Province of Pennsylvania (inc. Delaware Colony)
General
- 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State
- Age of Enlightenment
- American Enlightenment
- American Center for Law and Justice
- Antidisestablishmentarianism
- Christian anarchism
- Christian Reconstructionism
- Doctrine of the two kingdoms
- Freedom of religion
- Human-Etisk Forbund
- Laïcité
- Pledge of Allegiance criticism
- Religious toleration
- Render unto Caesar...
- Secular state
- Sphere sovereignty
- State religion
- Status of religious freedom by country
- Mandate of heaven
