Religious Freedom in Thomas More's Utopia

2002 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Religious Reform ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
State Relations

Thomas More advocated religious freedom in Utopia to promote civic peace in Christendom and to help unify his fractious Catholic Church. In doing so, he set forth a plan for managing church-state relations that is a precursor to liberal approaches in this area. Most scholars locate the origins of modern religious freedom in Protestant theology and its first mature articulation in Locke's A Letter on Toleration. This reading of Utopia shows that modern religious freedom has Catholic, Renaissance roots. The essay discusses how scholars have treated Utopian religious freedom and considers the much vexed question of whether More actually favored this principle. It also presents the historical context for More's analysis, his rationale for religious freedom, its effects on Utopian religion and politics, and More's strategy for promoting religious reform in Europe.

Paths of Duty: Religion, Marriage, and the Press in a Transatlantic Scandal, 1835–1858

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 636-662
Author(s):  
SUZANNA KRIVULSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
English Court ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Press ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Catholic Church

When the Rev. Pierce Connelly denounced Protestantism and converted to Catholicism in 1835, he inadvertently started a small newspaper war among the burgeoning religious press in America. While Catholic periodicals celebrated their newest addition in print, Protestant newspapermen were scandalized. They worried about how the clerical husband's conversion might affect his marital life should he pursue ordination in the Catholic Church. Soon, the Connellys dissolved their marriage in Rome and moved to England, where Pierce became a priest, and his wife Cornelia entered a convent. When, thirteen years later, Pierce reconverted and sued Cornelia “for the restoration of conjugal rights” in an English court, the case became an international sensation – with both British and American newspapers covering the developments and using the saga to comment on larger religious and political issues of their time. The two scandals demonstrate how the transatlantic press debated contested global concerns about the limits of religious freedom, the changing nature of marriage, church–state relations, and international law.

scholarly journals Church-State Relations in the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921)

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 255-269
Author(s):  
Dimitry Gegenava
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Republic Of Georgia ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) was one of the unique states in the first quarter of XX century. Despite the historical relations between the Church and the State in Georgia, the social-democratic government changed its official policy and chose French secularism, which was very unusual for the country. This was incorporated in the Constitution of 1921. This article is about the Georgian church-state relations during 1918-1921, the positive and negative aspects of the chosen form of secularism and the challenges that the newly independent State faced in the sphere of religious freedom until the Soviet occupation.

Fascism and Political Religion in Italy: A Reassessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
WALTER L. ADAMSON
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Italian Fascism ◽  
Political Religion ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractThis article challenges the currently dominant understanding of Italian Fascism as a ‘political religion’, arguing that this view depends upon an outdated model of secularisation and treats Fascism's sacralisation of politics in isolation from church–state relations, the Catholic Church itself and popular religious experience in Italy. Based upon an historiographical review and analysis of what we now know about secularisation and these other religious phenomena, the article suggests that only when we grasp Italian Fascist political religion in relation to secularisation properly understood, and treat it in the context of religious experience and its history as a whole can the nature of Italian Fascism be adequately grasped.

Religion, Politics, and the State

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonar L. Hernández Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Central American ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
American Catholicism ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Functionalist Approach

The historiography of religion and politics in Central America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries delves into three key historical periods: (1) the era of nation-building and anticlericalism during the nineteenth century; (2) the age of liberal dictatorship and the resurgence of Catholicism during the first part of the twentieth century; and (3) the rise of progressive Catholicism and concurrent expansion of Protestantism during the Cold War. Writing on the subject has emphasized the relationship between religion and politics and the interaction between clerics and lay people. Scholars have moved beyond a purely functionalist approach to the study of religion. They have uncovered the two-sided nature of church–state relations, one marked by conflict and cooperation, the connection between religion and politics, the link between Central American Catholicism, and the global Catholic Church, and the history of lay agency within religious institutions.

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