https://aeon.co/essays/the-modern-state-...us-freedom
EXCERPT: Religious freedom has become an emblematic value in the West. Embedded in constitutions and championed by politicians and thinkers across the political spectrum, it is to many an absolute value, something beyond question. Yet how it emerged, and why, remains widely misunderstood.
According to the conventional narrative, freedom of religion arose in the West in the wake of devastating wars fought over religion. It was catalysed by powerful arguments from thinkers such as John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, Pierre Bayle and Voltaire. These philosophers and political theorists responded to the brutality of the religious wars with support for radical notions of toleration and religious freedom. Their liberal ideals then became embedded in the political institutions of the West, following the American and French Revolutions.
In broad outline, such is the account accepted by most political philosophers and social scientists. But the evidence does not support this emphasis on the power of ideas in shaping the rise of religious freedom, and underestimates the decisive role played by institutions.
[...]
It made sense for medieval states to rely on religious institutions to carry out administrative tasks for them, and to provide public goods. Religious institutions such as churches and monasteries in Europe, and waqfs and mosques in the Islamic world, provided education, poor relief and other public goods. Compared with non-religious organisations, they were better at excluding free-riders and attracting contributions from members.
A partnership between church and state developed, a partnership with important consequences for religious freedom in the premodern world. In return for granting rulers political legitimacy, religious authorities could require secular rulers to enforce religious conformity. The bargain appealed to secular rulers too, as they believed that religious competition generated political instability. Religious conformity, and thus the persecution of religious dissent, came to be tantamount to the maintenance of political order. In such a world, religious freedom was inconceivable.
[...]
However, the long-run impact of these changes undermined religion as a tool of political legitimation, and worked to replace the old reliance on identity rules with more general laws. The new modern states that emerged in Europe after 1600 subordinated all alternative sources of power – the nobility and the church – to one sovereign authority. Religious legitimation became less important as a source of political legitimacy, and the grand bargain between church and state weakened. As they relied less on religious authority, states grew less inclined to value enforcing religious conformity....
MORE: https://aeon.co/essays/the-modern-state-...us-freedom
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EXCERPT: Religious freedom has become an emblematic value in the West. Embedded in constitutions and championed by politicians and thinkers across the political spectrum, it is to many an absolute value, something beyond question. Yet how it emerged, and why, remains widely misunderstood.
According to the conventional narrative, freedom of religion arose in the West in the wake of devastating wars fought over religion. It was catalysed by powerful arguments from thinkers such as John Locke, Baruch Spinoza, Pierre Bayle and Voltaire. These philosophers and political theorists responded to the brutality of the religious wars with support for radical notions of toleration and religious freedom. Their liberal ideals then became embedded in the political institutions of the West, following the American and French Revolutions.
In broad outline, such is the account accepted by most political philosophers and social scientists. But the evidence does not support this emphasis on the power of ideas in shaping the rise of religious freedom, and underestimates the decisive role played by institutions.
[...]
It made sense for medieval states to rely on religious institutions to carry out administrative tasks for them, and to provide public goods. Religious institutions such as churches and monasteries in Europe, and waqfs and mosques in the Islamic world, provided education, poor relief and other public goods. Compared with non-religious organisations, they were better at excluding free-riders and attracting contributions from members.
A partnership between church and state developed, a partnership with important consequences for religious freedom in the premodern world. In return for granting rulers political legitimacy, religious authorities could require secular rulers to enforce religious conformity. The bargain appealed to secular rulers too, as they believed that religious competition generated political instability. Religious conformity, and thus the persecution of religious dissent, came to be tantamount to the maintenance of political order. In such a world, religious freedom was inconceivable.
[...]
However, the long-run impact of these changes undermined religion as a tool of political legitimation, and worked to replace the old reliance on identity rules with more general laws. The new modern states that emerged in Europe after 1600 subordinated all alternative sources of power – the nobility and the church – to one sovereign authority. Religious legitimation became less important as a source of political legitimacy, and the grand bargain between church and state weakened. As they relied less on religious authority, states grew less inclined to value enforcing religious conformity....
MORE: https://aeon.co/essays/the-modern-state-...us-freedom
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