Page 264 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

religion and government 1565

God is on everyone’s side... and in the last analysis,
he is on the side with plenty of money and large
armies. • Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)

established limited religious tolerance in which believers (c. 1603–1683 CE), the founder of the American colony
had time to leave their country and move to one that sup- of Rhode Island, wrote passionately in support of reli-
ported their religious beliefs. gious freedom and the separation of church and state,
both based on his understanding of the Bible. Despite his
Principled Conceptions of own strong religious convictions, he opened the colony
Religious Freedom of Rhode Island to people of all faiths, where they were
In contrast to tolerance or acceptance of religious minori- welcome to freely practice their beliefs. During the Sec-
ties by the grace of the sovereign, rulers and governments ond Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church
have only occasionally developed a principled basis for adopted a policy statement, Dignitatis humanae (1965),
protecting the beliefs of others. In most cases, this basis which endorsed religious freedom and the independence
itself has come from the religious beliefs of the ruler. For of church and state based on religious reasons such as
example, Asoka, the last major emperor in the Mauryan human dignity.
dynasty of India (reigned c. 265–238 or c. 273–232 While some thinkers and religious leaders in some tra-
BCE), adopted Buddhism and then promoted religious ditions still struggle with a principled basis for religious
tolerance through his “Rock Edicts” based on the Bud- tolerance, modern scholars from all major religious tra-
dhist idea of dharma. Anabaptist preacher Balthasar ditions have identified resources within their own tradi-
Hubmaier (1485–1528 CE) argued against the coercion tions that could support a principled belief in religious
of heretics or nonbelievers and wrote a defense of reli- freedom. Drawing on worldwide legal, philosophical,
gious freedom based on the Bible. Roger Williams and religious beliefs, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, adopted by the United
Nations in 1948, supports the
right to “freedom of thought,
conscience and religion,”
which includes “freedom to
change his religion and belief
and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in
public or private, to manifest
his religion or belief in teach-
ing, practice, worship, and
observance.” (Stahnke & Mar-
tin 1998, 59).
Much of the contemporary
strength of the concept of reli-
gious freedom as a human
right and the role of a secular
state, however, comes from the
Western tradition. The growth
The remains of a large kiva at Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico. The of Christianity in the originally
structures within the kiva indicate that it was used for religious pagan Roman empire led to a
purposes but its size suggests that it was also used for community system of “two kingdoms,”
meetings. where both the emperor and