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Aconfessional state is a state which officially recognises and practices a particular religion (also known as astate religion), usually accompanied by apubliccult, ranging from having its citizens incentivised to do likewise through government endorsement to havingpublic spending on the maintenance of church property and clergy be unrestricted, but it does not need to be under the legislative control of theclergy as it would be in atheocracy.
Over human history, manystates have been confessional states. This is especially true in countries whereIslam,Christianity, andBuddhism were the religions of the state. Until the beginning of the 20th century, many if not most nations hadstate religions enshrined in their respectiveconstitutions or by decree of themonarch, even if other religions were permitted to practice.
However, there are many examples of large multicultural empires that have existed throughout time where the religion of the state was not imposed on subjected regions. For instance, theMongol Empire, whereTengrism was the religion of the court, but not imposed on those ruled by the Mongols, theAchaemenid Empire and theRoman Empire beforeConstantine I, where regionalclergies and practices were allowed to dominate as long as offerings were made to Roman Gods and tribute paid to Rome.
Religious minorities are accorded differing degrees of tolerance under confessional states; adherents may or may not have a set of legal rights, and these rights may not be accessible in practice. For example, inmedievalEuropeJewish people suffered various degrees of official and unofficial discrimination; during the same period inIslamic states, non-Muslims ordhimmi were legally inferior to Muslims but in theory accorded certain protections.
In Europe, the 1648Treaty of Westphalia institutionalized the principle ofcuius regio, eius religio—that rulers of a state had the right to determine the religion of its subjects. This was in an effort to curb the religious warfare that had wracked Europe after theProtestant Reformation.
In a 2002Journal of Ecumenical Studies article, Practice in Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict Harvard Divinity School professor David Little identified "ethnic and religious"inclusiveness in religious nationalism causing tensions as well as shifts fromethnic tocivic nationalism. He evaluated the religious nationalism of Christianity, with nationalism as "may [be understood] as the impulse of an ethnic group to claim the right to participate in the government of a given territory", presumably also manifesting in the form of state-level religious affiliation, and religious nationalism as "may mean the impulse of the group in question to invoke a religious warrant for its claim to such a right." Subscribing to "the literature [that it] is divided into two basic types: 'ethnic' and 'civic'", accepting that "religious people do perform [giving religious reasons for ethnocratic rule], thus contributing, it would appear, to the violence that so often attends one ethnic group's drive for political domination", Little nonetheless concludes that "throughout the course of Christian history" that in response to "Christians [that] advocate one or another version of ethnocratic rule", "[...] there are strong [Christian] dissenting voices that are dedicated to promoting ethnic and religious inclusiveness based on tolerance and equality in the civic order."[1]
A danger fromreligious nationalism is that when the state derives political legitimacy from adherence to religious doctrines, this may leave an opening to overtly religious elements, institutions, and leaders, making the appeals to religion more 'authentic' by bringing more explicitly theological interpretations to political life. Thus, appeals to religion as a marker of ethnicity create an opening for more strident and ideological interpretations of religious nationalism.
The confessional state is largely gone in the Western World, although in theMiddle East, the confessional state still commonly exists, as well as many post-partition of the Ottoman Empire states andIran having establishedconfessionalism. Today, many Muslim-majority countries have incorporated Islamic law in part into their legal systems. Islamic states which are not Islamic monarchies are usually referred to as Islamic republics,[2] such asPakistan and the previously mentioned Iran,[3] both are moderately common in theMuslim world. A number of modern countries have state religions; they usually also allowfreedom of religion.
During theScottish Reformation, in the beginning of Scottish Presbyterianism, the interpretation of various religious figures being rebuked by their superiors enabled a "radical" check and balance by Scottishcovenanters to bind the monarch by law and subject them to divine authority.
Several of theThirteen Colonies were confessional states, although of different denominations, before theAmerican Revolution;Connecticut remained one until 1818. Other American states required each town or individual to supportsome religious body, without the state deciding which one; but this was also abolished, the last instance beingMassachusetts, which restricted the obligation in 1821 and ended it in 1843.
The 1646Westminster Confession of Faith Genevan approach associated withJohn Calvin was in favor of limiting from the Christian ruler the role of the church in administering discipline, up to excommunication, while affirming their duty to promote and protect true religion.[4]
It persists, with reduced political power, as anAnglican confessional state.
Russia is formally secular but its government strongly promotes and relies on Orthodox Christianity and its values.
A Catholic confessional state.
In 2015, PresidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi ofEgypt, with "his professed goal [...] to purge [Islam] of extremist ideas of intolerance and violence that fuel groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State", "[used] government religious institutions like the 1,000-year-oldal-Azhar, one of the most eminent centers of Sunni Muslim thought and teaching."[5]
Indonesia is formally secular but a presidential edict enacted bySukarno in 1965 explicitly stated that "the religions professed by Indonesians are Islam, [Protestant] Christianity, Catholic[ism], Hindu[ism], [Buddhism], and Kong Fuzi (Confucious)." Confucianism was banned during theNew Order, while those not professing the other five religions were forced to convert to receive government service.
Saudi Arabia is a state incorporating Islamic law in full into their legal system.
Vatican City is a Christian state whose legal system is rooted incanon law.
Pakistan is a formerethnic nationalist theocratic confessional state. In 1980,Pakistan's separate electoral system for different religions has been described as 'political Apartheid'. Hindu community leader Sudham Chand protested against the system but was murdered. In 1999, Pakistan abolished this system.[6] Pakistan is a theocracy incorporating Islamic law in part, due to the state having retained most of the laws that were inherited from the British legal code that had been enforced by theBritish Raj since the 19th century.
Some writers counter accusations thatPoland is atheocracy by stating that it is in fact a confessional state.[7] Other writers view the notion as theocratic.[8]