Anticlericalism usually pursues the secularization of the State
The movement that opposes clericalism is called anticlericalism : that is, the exaggerated power of the clergy (the group of priests or clerics) in politics or even in the day-to-day life of the Church. The animosity against everything linked to the clergy is also known as anticlericalism.
Rejection by the clergy
Anticlericalism rejects religious influence on political issues and social life in general. Its doctrine has different scope or objectives, according to each group and the time.
At a general level it can be said that anticlericalism is associated with secularization and secularism . It is important to mention that the anticlerical position, with different nuances, appears in different ideologies and movements, such as communism , anarchism and liberalism . Therefore, its principles can be integrated into various political factions.
Types of anticlericalism
There is an anti-clericalism that criticizes the exaggerated size of the clergy and the abuses committed by its members, although it does not reject the Church's interference in society and the State. In this case, we speak of believing anticlericalism or Christian anticlericalism , according to the name proposed by the Spanish essayist, anthropologist and historian Julio Caro Baroja .
Another type of anticlericalism, which emerged with the Enlightenment in the 18th century , questions the clergy from a rationalist position. The so-called non-believing anticlericalism or contemporary anticlericalism maintains that clerics represent an impediment to progress.
Atheist anticlericalism or anti-religious anticlericalism , meanwhile, is more extreme. Its promoters attack the beliefs, dogmas, scriptures and rituals of religion .
Despite what it seems at first glance, the latter is related to secularism, which does not necessarily have an objective against religion, but rather pursues the secularization of the State.
History
Before continuing, it is important to note that anticlericalism is a phenomenon that has always been present in any religion that has had a priestly clergy. Various religions throughout history had the intention of taking over civil government and controlling it through theocracy , a form of government in which the leadership of religion and the State is held by the same group.
Speaking in particular of Christianity, a religion that predominates in Spanish-speaking countries, Jesus Christ said that it was not possible to serve two masters and that it was necessary to distinguish between Caesar and God , two statements that point to his supposed intention to separate religion from politics. Despite this, the support of Emperor Constantine in the emergence of religion with a priestly structure led to a progressive growth of the political and economic interests of the Church.
In Herod's Temple, Jesus said that we should not mix the State with religion
The episode in which Jesus communicated these ideas was the expulsion of the merchants from the Temple , a scene from the Gospel that took place on the eve of Easter. While he was in the Temple of Jerusalem, he noticed that in its courtyard there were many people practicing commerce and exchanging coins; This filled him with anger and he decided to whip the livestock animals, after which he overturned the merchants' tables, knocking their goods and coins to the ground in the process.
In this context, the concept of Caesaropapism can be mentioned, which refers to the unification of the State and the Church, that is, a single entity (which used to be the emperor) had both powers, religious and political. It was only in the 16th century that, starting from humanism and the work of the theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam, the development of European anticlericalism took place in the form we know today.