Church and state | Religion, Politics, & History

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class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-and-state/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/church-and-state">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-student-links"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> For Students </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/church-and-state"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/images/shared/default3.png?v=3.130.14" class="default " height="200" width="200"/> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/church-and-state" >church and state summary</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 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For full treatment of the separation of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">religion</a> and politics, <em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/secularism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">secularism</a>. For full treatment of the concept of church and state in Christianity, <em>see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity/Church-and-state#ref67577" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Christianity: church and state.</a></p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Before the advent of Christianity, separate religious and political orders were not clearly defined in most civilizations. People worshipped the gods of the particular state in which they lived, religion in such cases being but a department of the state. In the case of the <span id="ref126090"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jewish</a> people, the revealed law of the scripture <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituted" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituted" data-type="MW">constituted</a> the law of Israel. The Christian concept of the <span id="ref126091"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/secularism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">secular</a> and the spiritual is founded on the words of <span id="ref126092"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jesus</a>: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). Two distinct, but not altogether separate, areas of human life and activity had to be distinguished; hence, a theory of two powers came to form the basis of Christian thought and teaching from earliest times.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-read-more-module" href="/topic/Christianity/Church-and-state#ref301625" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/10/58810-050-09BA4000/Christ-Ruler-Apostles-Evangelists-figures-Santa-Pudenziana-417-ce.jpg" alt="mosaic: Christianity" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-navy-dark">More From Britannica</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Christianity: Church and state</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During the 1st century <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span> the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apostle" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Apostles</a>, living under a pagan empire, taught respect for and obedience to the governing powers so long as such obedience did not violate the higher, or divine, law, which superseded political jurisdiction. Among the <span id="ref126094"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Father" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Church Fathers</a>, who lived in a period when Christianity had become the religion of the empire, the emphasis on the primacy of the spiritual was even stronger. They insisted upon the independence of the church and the right of the church to judge the actions of the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW">secular</a> ruler.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">With the decline of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Empire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Roman Empire</a> in the West, civil <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/authority" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">authority</a> fell into the hands of the only educated class that remained—the churchmen. The church, which formed the only organized institution, became the seat of temporal as well as spiritual power. In the East the civil authorities, centered in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Istanbul" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Constantinople</a>, dominated the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ecclesiastical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecclesiastical" data-type="MW">ecclesiastical</a> throughout the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Byzantine period</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 800, under <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlemagne" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Charlemagne</a>, the empire was restored in the West, and by the 10th century many secular rulers held power throughout Europe. A period of political manipulation of the church <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="hierarchy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hierarchy" data-type="MW">hierarchy</a> and a general decline in clerical zeal and piety brought vigorous action from a line of reforming popes, the most famous of whom was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Gregory-VII" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gregory VII</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The following centuries were marked by a dramatic struggle of emperors and kings with the <span id="ref126095"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/pope" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">popes</a>. During the 12th and 13th centuries, papal power greatly increased. In the 13th century, however, the greatest scholar of the age, <span id="ref126096"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Thomas-Aquinas" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. Thomas Aquinas</a>, borrowing from Aristotle, aided in raising the dignity of the civil power by declaring the state a perfect society (the other perfect society was the church) and a necessary good. The <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="medieval" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval" data-type="MW">medieval</a> struggle between secular and religious power came to a climax in the 14th century with the rise of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="nationalism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalism" data-type="MW">nationalism</a> and the increased prominence of lawyers, both royalist and canon. Numerous theorists contributed to the atmosphere of controversy, and the papacy finally met with disaster, first in the removal of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Avignon-papacy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">popes to Avignon</a> under French influence and second with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/East-West-Schism-1054" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Great Schism</a> attendant upon an effort to bring the popes back to Rome. Church <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="discipline" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline" data-type="MW">discipline</a> was relaxed, and church <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="prestige" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prestige" data-type="MW">prestige</a> fell in all parts of Europe.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=black-friday-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The immediate effect of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Protestant Reformation</a> was to diminish the power of the church even further. Christianity in its fractured condition could offer no effective opposition to strong rulers, who now claimed divine right for their positions as head of church and state. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Calvin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">John Calvin</a>’s assertion of ecclesiastical supremacy in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Geneva-Switzerland" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Geneva</a> was an exception of the day. Many <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lutheranism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lutheran</a> churches became, in effect, arms of the state. In England <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VIII-king-of-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Henry VIII</a> ended ties with Rome and assumed the headship of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-of-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Church of England</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the 17th century there were few who believed that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="diversity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diversity" data-type="MW">diversity</a> of religious belief and a church unconnected with the civil power were possible in a unified state. Common religious standards were looked upon as a principal support of the political order. When the notions of diversity of belief and toleration of dissent did start to grow, they were not generally seen to conflict with the concept of a state church. The <span id="ref126097"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Puritans</a>, for example, who fled religious persecution in England in the 17th century, enforced rigid conformity to church ideas among settlers in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-colonies" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">American colonies</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The concept of secular government as expressed in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/First-Amendment" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">First Amendment</a> to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Constitution-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">U.S. Constitution</a> reflected both the influence of the French <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Enlightenment-European-history" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Enlightenment</a> on colonial <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectuals" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectuals" data-type="MW">intellectuals</a> and the special interests of the established churches in preserving their separate and distinct identities. The <span id="ref126098"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baptist" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baptists</a>, notably, held the separation of church and state powers as a principle of their creed.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The great wave of migration to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> by Roman Catholics in the 1840s prompted a reassertion of the principle of secular government by state legislatures fearing allocation of government funds to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="parochial" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parochial" data-type="MW">parochial</a> educational facilities. The 20th century saw the First and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fourteenth-Amendment" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fourteenth amendment</a>s to the Constitution applied with considerable strictness by the courts in the field of <span id="ref126099"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/education" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">education</a>. Late in the century, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a> Christian groups in the United States generated considerable controversy by seeking textbook censorship, reversal of court prohibition of school prayer, and requirements that certain biblical doctrines be taught in contradistinction to scientific theories.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> <span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/charles-preston/13008388">Charles Preston</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":117123,"pageLength":889,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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