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“Do Democracies Have Separation of Religion and State?”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2007

Jonathan Fox
Jonathan Fox
Affiliation:
Bar Ilan University
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Abstract

Abstract. While many argue that separation of religion and state (SRAS) is an essential element of democracy, others posit that religion is an essential element of democracy's moral underpinnings. This study examines the debate using data from the Religion and State (RAS) dataset, which includes 62 variables in six broader categories measuring different aspects of SRAS for all 152 states with populations of one million or more, as well as data on democracy from the Polity and Freedom House datasets. It also develops seven operational definitions of SRAS that can be constructed using this data. Overall, the results show that a clear majority of democracies do not have SRAS even when evaluating multiple operational definitions of both democracy and SRAS. However, democracies tend to have lower average levels of government involvement in religion (GIR) than do non-democracies. This is because, while most democracies do not have SRAS, there is an upper limit to the amount of GIR that is found in any democracy that does not appear to apply to non-democracies. All this indicates that the proper question regarding religion and democracy is not one of SRAS but rather one of how much and what types of GIR can democracies tolerate.

Résumé. Alors que de nombreuses personnes prétendent que la séparation de la religion et de l'État est un élément essentiel de la démocratie, d'autres avancent que la religion est un élément essentiel des fondations morales de la démocratie. Cette étude analyse ce débat en utilisant des données provenant de la base de données Religion and State, qui comprend 62 variables regroupées en 6 grandes catégories et mesurant les différents aspects de la séparation de la religion et de l'État dans les 152 pays dont la population atteint un million d'habitants ou plus, ainsi que les données sur la démocratie fournies par la base de données Polity et l'indicateur de Freedom House. L'article met aussi au point sept définitions fonctionnelles de la séparation de la religion et de l'État, que l'on peut composer à partir de ces données. Dans l'ensemble, les résultats montrent que la grande majorité des démocraties ne pratiquent pas la séparation de la religion et de l'État, même lorsque l'on prend en compte plusieurs définitions fonctionnelles de la démocratie et de la séparation de la religion et de l'État. En revanche, le niveau moyen d'engagement religieux du gouvernement tend à être plus bas dans les démocraties que dans les pays qui ne sont pas des démocraties. Cela s'explique par le fait que, bien que la plupart des démocraties ne pratiquent pas la séparation de la religion et de l'État, elles observent un plafond d'engagement religieux qu'on ne retrouve pas dans les pays qui ne sont pas des démocraties. Tout ceci indique que la question la plus appropriée concernant la religion et la démocratie n'est pas celle de la séparation de la religion et de l'État, mais plutôt celle du degré et des modèles d'engagement religieux que les démocraties peuvent tolérer de la part de leurs gouvernements.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , March 2007 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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