RELIGIA ÎNTRE TEOCRAȚIE ȘI STATUL SECULAR
RELIGION BETWEEN THEOCRACY AND THE SECULAR STATE

Summary/Abstract: Religion Between Theocracy and the Secular State. To understand the distinction between religion-centered and secular states, it is necessary to introduce an additional set of distinctions. States can be strongly connected to religion or disconnected from it. Such a connection or disconnection can exist at three distinct levels: (1) at the level of goals; (2) at the level of institutions and personnel; and (3) at the level of public policy and, more relevantly, law. A state that is united with a particular religious order is a theocratic state, governed by divine laws administered directly by a priestly order that claims a divine mandate. A theocratic state is strongly connected to religion at each of these three levels. Historical examples of theocracies include ancient Israel, some Buddhist regimes in Japan and China, Jean Calvin’s Geneva, and the papal states. The Islamic Republic of Iran, as Khomeini aspired to lead it, is an obvious example. A theocratic state must be distinguished from a state that establishes religion. Here, religion is given official and legal recognition by the state, and although both benefit from a formal alliance with each other, the priesthood does not govern a state in which religion is established, because it does not unify church and state, but only installs an alliance between them. States with an established church are, in some respects, disconnected from it. They do this in different ways. In this study, we discuss the relationship between theocracy and the secular ways in which it is reflected in the structure of the state.

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