Nations with state religions:
A 'state religion' (also called an 'official religion', 'established church' or 'state church') is a
religious body or
creed officially endorsed by the
state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a
secular state. The term ''state church'' is associated with
Christianity, and is sometimes used to denote a specific national branch of Christianity. Closely related to state churches are what
sociologists call
ecclesiae, though the two are slightly different. State religions are examples of the official or government-sanctioned
establishment of religion, as distinct from
theocracy. It is also possible for a
national church to become established without being under state control.
Types of state churches
The degree and nature of state backing for denomination or creed designated as a state religion can vary. It can range from mere endorsement and financial support, with freedom for other faiths to practice, to prohibiting any competing religious body from operating and to persecuting the followers of other sects. In Europe, competition between Catholic and Protestant denominations for state sponsorship in the 16th century evolved the principle ''
cuius regio eius religio'' ("states follow the religion of the ruler") embodied in the text of the
treaty that marked the
Peace of Augsburg,
1555. In
England the monarch imposed Protestantism in 1533, with himself taking the place of the Pope, while in
Scotland the
Church of Scotland became the established Kirk in opposition to the religion of the ruler.
In some cases, a state may have a set of state-sponsored religious denominations that it funds; such is the case in
Alsace-Moselle in
France, following the pattern in
Germany.
In some
communist states, notably the
People's Republic of China, the state sponsors religious organizations, and activities outside those state-sponsored religious organizations are met with various degrees of official disapproval. In these cases, state religions are widely seen as efforts by the state to prevent alternate sources of authority.
State church vs state religion
There is also a difference between a "state church" and "state religion". A "state church" is created by a monarch, as in the cases of the
Anglican Church, created by
Henry VIII or the
Church of Sweden, created by
Gustav Vasa. An example of "state religion" is Argentina's acceptance of Catholicism as its religion. In the case of the former, the state has absolute control over the church, but in the case of the latter, in this example, the
Vatican has control over the church.
Sociology of state churches
Sociologists refer to mainstream non-state religions as
denominations. State religions tend to admit a larger variety of opinion within them than denominations. Denominations encountering major differences of opinion within themselves are likely to split; this option is not open for most state churches, so they tend to try to integrate differing opinions within themselves.
However, state churches have divided, with the dissidents losing the advantages of state support. The
Church of Scotland has split several times in the past for doctrinal reasons, including the meaning and acceptability of state support. Attempts by the monarch to impose
bishops on the Kirk led to the splitting off of the non-established
Scottish Episcopal Church. Its largest offshoots from a
later disruption were the
Free Church of Scotland and later the
United Free Church of Scotland. These offshoots lost the established status of their parent, but since 1929 the (partially) reunited Church of Scotland has considered itself to be a "
national church" rather than an established church, as it is entirely independent of state control in matters spiritual. Legally, it remains established.
Many sociologists now consider the effect of a state church as analogous to a chartered
monopoly in religion.
Where state religions exist, it is usually true the majority of residents are officially considered adherents; however, much of this support is little more than nominal; many members of the church rarely attend it. But the population's allegiance towards the state religion is often strong enough to prevent them from joining competing religious groups.
A denomination's status as official religion does not always imply that the jurisdiction prohibits the existence or operation of other sects or religious bodies. It all depends upon the government and the level of tolerance the citizens of that country have for each other. Some countries with official religions have laws that guarantee the freedom of worship, full liberty of conscience, and places of worship for all citizens; and implement those laws than other countries that do not have an official or established state religion.
Disestablishment
'Disestablishment' is the process of divesting a church of its status as an organ of the state. In England there was a campaign by
Liberals,
dissenters and
nonconformists to disestablish the
Church of England in the late 19th century; it failed in
England, but demands for the measure persist to this day. The
Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1869 and the Church of England was disestablished in Wales in 1920, the
Church in Wales becoming separated from the Church of England in the process - it had formerly effectively been the Church of England and Wales. Those who wish to continue with an established church take a position of
antidisestablishmentarianism.
The
First Amendment to the
US Constitution explicitly forbids the U.S.
federal government from enacting any law respecting a religious establishment, and thus forbids either designating an official church for the United States, or interfering with State and local official churches — which were common when the First Amendment was enacted. It did not prevent
state governments from establishing official churches.
Connecticut continued to do so until it replaced its colonial
Charter with the
Connecticut Constitution of 1818; Massachusetts did not disestablish its official church until 1833, more than forty years after the ratification of the First Amendment; and local official establishments of religion persisted even later.
The
Fourteenth Amendment to the
US Constitution, ratified in 1868, makes no mention of religious establishment, but forbids the states to "abridge the privileges or immunities" of U.S. citizens, or to "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". In the 1947 case of
Everson v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court held that this later provision
incorporates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause as applying to the States, and thereby prohibits state and local religious establishments. The exact boundaries of this prohibition are still disputed, and are a frequent source of cases before the
US Supreme Court — especially as the court must now reconcile this post-1947 view with the original First Amendment clause that explicitly prohibits any restraint on the free exercise of religion.
All current U.S. state constitutions include guarantees of religious liberty parallel to the First Amendment, but eight (
Arkansas,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
North Carolina,
Pennsylvania,
South Carolina,
Tennessee, and
Texas) also contain clauses that prohibit atheists from holding public office.
[1][2]
However, these clauses have been held by the
United States Supreme Court to be unenforceable in the 1961 case of ''
Torcaso v. Watkins'', where the court ruled unanimously that such clauses constituted a religious test incompatible with First and Fourteenth Amendment protections.
Christian countries
The following states recognize some form of
Christianity as their state or official religion (by denomination):
Roman Catholic
Jurisdictions which recognize
Roman Catholicism as their state or official religion:
★
Argentina
★
Bolivia
★
Costa Rica
★
El Salvador
★
Liechtenstein
★
Malta
★
Monaco
★ Some
cantons of Switzerland (state religion):
★
★
Appenzell Innerrhoden (declared "religion of the people of Appenzell Innerrhoden")
★
★
Aargau
★
★
Basel-Country
★
★
Berne
★
★
Glarus
★
★
Graubünden
★
★
Nidwalden
★
★
Schwyz
★
★
Thurgau
★
★
Uri
★
Vatican City (official religion)
Eastern Orthodox
Jurisdictions which recognize one of the
Eastern Orthodox Churches as their state religion:
★
Cyprus (
Cypriot Orthodox Church)
★
Republic of Moldova (
Orthodox Church)
★
Greece (
Church of Greece)
★
Finland:
Finnish Orthodox Church has a special relationship with the Finnish state. The internal structure of the church is described in the Orthodox Church Act. The church has a power to tax her members and corporations, the majority of which is owned by them. The church does not consider herself a state church, as the state does not have the authority to affect her internal workings or theology.
Lutheran
Jurisdictions which recognize a
Lutheran church as their state religion:
★
Denmark (
Church of Denmark)
★
Iceland (
Church of Iceland)
★
Norway (
Church of Norway)
★
Finland:
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has a special relationship with the Finnish state, its internal structure being described in a special law, the Church Act. The Church Act can be amended only by a decision of the Synod of the Evengelical Lutheran Church and subsequent ratification by the parliament. The church has a power to tax her members and all corporations, except those the majority of which is owned by members of the
Finnish Orthodox Church. The state collects these taxes for the church, for a fee. On the other hand, the church is required to give a burial place for everyone in her graveyards. The church does not consider herself a state church, as the Finnish state does not have a possibility to affect her internal workings or her theology, although it has a veto in those changes of the internal structure which require changing the Church Act. Neither does the Finnish state accord any precedence to Lutherans or the Lutheran faith in its own acts.
Anglican
Jurisdictions that recognise an
Anglican church as their state religion:
★
England (
Church of England)
Reformed
Jurisdictions which recognize a
Reformed church as their state religion:
★ Some
cantons of Switzerland (
Swiss Reformed Church):
★
★
Aargau
★
★
Basel-Country
★
★
Berne
★
★
Glarus
★
★
Graubünden
★
★
Schwyz
★
★
Thurgau
★
★
Uri
★
★
Zurich
★
Scotland – the
Church of Scotland is the
national church, but is not a "state church" and has complete independence from the state in spiritual matters, thus being both established and free.
[ Religious Liberty: The legal framework in selected OSCE countries. ]p.161
Old Catholic
Jurisdictions which recognize an
Old Catholic church as their state religion:
★ Some
cantons of Switzerland (
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland):
★
★
Aargau
★
★
Basel-Country
★
★
Berne
Islamic countries
Countries which recognize
Islam as their official religion. Although the
separation of church and state is a concept that originated in a western context, there is the notion of
toleration for
people of the book in Islam.
★
Afghanistan (State religion)
★
Algeria
★
Bahrain
★
Bangladesh
★
Brunei
★
Comoros
★
Egypt (State religion)
★
Iran (State religion)
★
Iraq
★
Jordan
★
Kuwait
★
Libya
★
Malaysia
★
Maldives
★
Mauritania
★
Morocco
★
Oman
★
Pakistan (State religion)
★
Palestinian National Authority[3]
★
Qatar
★
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (State religion)
★
Saudi Arabia (Religion of the Kingdom)
★
Somalia
★
Somaliland (Religion of the nation)
★
Tunisia
★
United Arab Emirates (Religion of the Kingdom)
★
Yemen
Sunni Islam
★
Algeria
★
Malaysia
★
Maldives
★
Pakistan (as National-sanctioned religion)
★
Saudi Arabia (as state-sanctioned religion)
★
Somalia
Shi'a Islam
★
Iran (as state-sanctioned religion)
Buddhism as state religion
Governments which recognize
Buddhism as their official religion:
★
Bhutan (
Drukpa Kagyu school of
Tibetan Buddhism)
★
Cambodia (
Theravada Buddhism)
★
Kalmykia, a republic within the
Russian Federation (
Tibetan Buddhism - sole Buddhist entity in Europe)
★
Sri Lanka (
Theravada Buddhism - The constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place," but Buddhism is not recognized as the state religion. )
★
Tibet Government in Exile (
Gelugpa school of
Tibetan Buddhism)
★
Myanmar- written in the 1974 constitution
Hindu countries
★
Nepal was the world's only Hindu state, but in order to negotiate with Maoist rebels they dropped the status as a Hindu state.
Others
★
Israel is defined in several of its laws as a democratic Jewish state. However, the term "
Jewish" is a
polyseme that can relate equally to the Jewish people or religion. The debate about the meaning of the term Jewish and its legal and social applications (considering that it comes alongside the term "
democratic") is one of the most profound issues with which Israeli society deals. At present, Israel cannot be said to have an established religion. However, the State of Israel supports religious institutions, particularly
Orthodox Jewish ones, and recognizes Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze religious courts as official state courts for personal status matters (see
millet system). The structure and goals of the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel are governed by Israeli law, but the law does not say explicitly that it is a state Rabbinate. Non-recognition of other streams of Judaism is the cause of some controversy. As of
2007, there is no civil marriage in Israel.
★ The
United States and other countries indirectly fund religions of different denominations by granting tax-exempt status to churches and religious institutions which qualify as
charitable organizations.
Tax guide for churches and Religious Institutions Internal Revenue Service
Exemption Requirements Internal Revenue Seervice Ancient state religions
Egypt and Sumer
The concept of state religions was known as long ago as the empires of
Egypt and
Sumer, when every city state or people had its own god or gods. Many of the early Sumerian rulers were priests of their patron city god. Some of the earliest semi-mythological kings may have passed into the pantheon, like
Dumuzid, and some later kings came to be viewed as divine soon after their reigns, like
Sargon the Great of
Akkad. One of the first rulers to be proclaimed a god during his actual reign was
Gudea of
Lagash, followed by some later kings of
Ur, such as
Shulgi. Often, the state religion was integral to the power base of the reigning government, such as in Egypt, where Pharaohs were often thought of as embodiments of the god Horus.
Persian empire
Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the
Sassanid dynasty which lasted from (226 - 651).
Greek city-states
Many of the Greek city-states also had a 'god' or 'goddess' associated with that city. This would not be the 'only god' of the city, but the one that received special honors. In ancient Greece the city of
Athens had
Athena,
Sparta had
Artemis,
Delos had
Apollo and Artemis, and
Olympia had
Zeus.
Roman Religion and Christianity
In Rome, the office of ''
Pontifex Maximus'' came to be reserved for the emperor, who was often —declared a 'god' posthumously, or sometimes during his reign. Failure to worship the emperor as a god was at times punishable by death, as the Roman government sought to link emperor worship with loyalty to the Empire. Many Christians and Jews were subject to persecution, torture and death in the Roman Empire, because it was against their beliefs to worship the emperor.
In
311, Emperor
Galerius, on his deathbed, declared a religious indulgence to Christians throughout the Roman Empire, focusing on the ending of anti-Christian persecution.
Constantine I and
Licinius, the two ''Augusti'', by the
Edict of Milan of
313, enacted a law allowing religious freedom to everyone within the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Edict of Milan cited that Christians may openly practice their religion unmolested and unrestricted, and provided that properties taken from Christians be returned to them unconditionally. Although the Edict of Milan allowed religious freedom throughout the empire, it did not abolish nor disestablish the Roman state cult (Roman polytheistic paganism). The Edict of Milan was written in such a way as to implore the blessings of the deity.
Constantine called up the
First Council of Nicaea in 325, although he was not a baptised Christian until years later. Despite enjoying considerable popular support, Christianity was still not the official state religion in Rome, although it was in some neighboring states such as
Armenia and
Aksum.
Roman Religion (
Neoplatonic Hellenism) was restored for a time by
Julian the Apostate from 361 to 363. Julian does not appear to have reinstated the persecutions of the earlier
Roman emperors.
Catholic Christianity, as opposed to Arianism and other heretical and schismatic groups, was declared to be the state religion of the
Roman Empire on
February 27 380[4] by the decree ''De Fide Catolica'' of Emperor
Theodosius I.
[5]
Han Dynasty Confucianism and Sui Dynasty Buddhism
In China, the
Han Dynasty (206 BC -- 220 AD) advocated
Confucianism as the de facto state religion, establishing tests based on Confucian texts as an entrance requirement into government service. The Han emperors appreciated the societal order which is a central concept of Confucianism. Confucianism would continue as the state religion until the
Sui Dynasty (581-618), when it was replaced by
Buddhism.
Neo-confucianism returned as the state religion sometime in the 10th century.
States without any state religion
These states do not profess any state religion. Countries which officially decline to establish any religion include:
★
Australia
★
Azerbaijan
★
Canada
★
Chile
★
People's Republic of China
★
Colombia
★
France
★
India
★
Republic of Ireland
★
Japan (Shinto until end of WWII)
★
Nepal (State religion abolished)
★
New Zealand
★
Nigeria
★
Philippines
★
Romania
★
Singapore
★
South Africa
★
South Korea
★
Turkey
★
United States
Established churches and former state churches
In
1967, the Albanian government made
atheism the "state religion". This designation remained in effect until
1991.
[6]
Finland's State Church was the
Church of Sweden until
1809. As an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russia 1809-1917, Finland retained the Lutheran State Church system, and a state church separate from Sweden, later named the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, was established. It was detached from the state as a separate judicial entity when the new church law came to force in 1870. After Finland had gained independence in
1917, religious freedom was declared in the constitution of
1919 and a separate law on religious freedom in
1922. Through this arrangement, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland lost its position as a state church but gained a constitutional status as a national church alongside with the
Finnish Orthodox Church, whose position however is not codified in the constitution.
In France the
Concordat of 1801 made the Roman Catholic,
Calvinist and
Lutheran churches state-sponsored religions, as well as
Judaism.
In Hungary the constitutional laws of 1848 declared five established churches on equal status: the
Roman Catholic,
Calvinist,
Lutheran,
Eastern Orthodox and
Unitarian Church. In 1868 the law was ratified again after the
Ausgleich. In 1895
Judaism was also recognized as the sixth established church. In 1948 every distinction between the different denominations were abolished.
Disestablished by the Philippine Organic Act of
1902.
[7]
The Church of Scotland is established in the sense that its system of church courts was set up by
Parliament, but over the centuries it has resisted interference by secular authorities. The Church of Scotland Act
1921 recognizes its exclusive authority to decide ecclesiastical issues, and the statute incorporates and accepts
the Church's Declaratory Articles as lawful.
[p.161]
The Church in Wales was split from the Church of England in 1920 by Welsh Church Act 1914; at the same time becoming disestablished.
Former state churches in British North America
Protestant colonies
★ Plymouth Colony was founded by Pilgrims.
★ Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was founded by Baptists.
★ Province of Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers.
★ New Netherland was founded by Dutch Reformed Calvinists
★ Province of New York and Colony of Virginia were officially Anglican.
Catholic colonies
★ When New France was transferred to Great Britain in 1763, the Roman Catholic Church remained under toleration, but Huguenots were allowed entrance where they had formerly been banned from settlement by Parisian authorities.
★ The Colony of Maryland was founded by a charter granted in 1632 to George Calvert, secretary of state to Charles I, and his son Cecil, both recent converts to Roman Catholicism. Under their leadership many English Catholic gentry families settled in Maryland. However, the colonial government was officially neutral in religious affairs, granting toleration to all Christian groups and enjoining them to avoid actions which antagonized the others. On several occasions low-church dissenters led insurrections which temporarily overthrew the Calvert rule. In 1689, when William and Mary came to the English throne, they acceded to demands to revoke the original royal charter. Soon after the Anglican Church was established, and Catholics were severely repressed.
★ Spanish Florida was ceded to Great Britain in 1763, the British divided Florida into two colonies. Both East and West Florida continued a policy of toleration for the Catholic Residents.
Tabular Summary
In several colonies, the establishment ceased to exist in practice at the Revolution, about 1776[8]; this is the date of legal abolition.
in 1789 the Georgia Constitution was amended as follows:
"Article IV. Section 10. No person within this state shall, upon any pretense, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in any manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged. To do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this state, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles."
From 1780 Massachusetts had a system which required every man to belong to a church, and permitted each church to tax its members, and did not require that it be a Congregational church. This was objected to, as in practice establishing the Congregational Church, and was abolished in 1833.
Until 1877 the New Hampshire Constitution required members of the State legislature to be of the Protestant religion.
The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 disestablished the Anglican church, but until 1835 the NC Constitution allowed only Protestants to hold public office. From 1835-1876 it allowed allowed only Christians (including Catholics) to hold public office. Article VI, Section 8 of the current NC Constitution forbids only atheists from holding public office.[Article VI of the North Carolina state constitition] Such clauses were held by the United States Supreme Court to be unenforceable in the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins, when the court ruled unanimously that such clauses constituted a religious test incompatible with First and Fourteenth Amendment protections.
Religious Tolerance for Catholics with an Established Church of England were policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule.
Religious tolerance for Catholics with an established Church of England were policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule.
In Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War, the British ceded both East and West Florida back to Spain (see Spanish Florida).
State of Deseret
The State of Deseret was a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years, but attempts to gain recognition by the United States government foundered for various reasons. The Utah Territory which was then founded was under Mormon control, and repeated attempts to gain statehood met resistance, in part due to concerns over the principle of separation of church and state conflicting with the practice of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of placing their highest value on "following counsel" in virtually all matters relating to their church-centered lives. The state of Utah was eventually admitted to the union on January 4 1896, after the various issues had been resolved.[9]
See also
★ Civil religion
★ Political religion
★ Separation of church and state
★ Freedom of religion
★ Status of religious freedom by country
★ Religious toleration
References
1. State Constitutions that Discriminate Against Atheists
2. Religious laws and religious bigotry - Religious discrimination in U.S. state constitutions
3. The Amended Basic Law
4. The Theodosian Code
5. Theodosian Code XVI.i.2
6. Albania: A Country Study, , Raymond, Zickel, Headquarters Dept. of Army; 2nd ed, 1994,
7. Philippine Organic Act of 1902
8. Rights of the People: Individual freedom and the Bill of Rights
9. Struggle For Statehood Edward Leo Lyman, ''Utah History Encyclopedia''
External links
★ Establishment and Disestablishment at the Founding, Part I: Establishment of Religion, , Michael W., McConnell, William and Mary Law Review, provided by Questia.com,
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