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A state religion (also called official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state ), while not a secular state, is not necessarily a theocracy. State religions are official or government-sanctioned establishments of a religion, but the state does ...
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Antiquity
State religions were known in ancient times in the empires of Egypt and Sumer and ancient Greece when every city state or people had its own god or gods. The religions had little ethical content and the main purpose of worship was to petition the gods to protect the city or the state and make it victorious over its enemies. There was often a powerful personality cult associated with the ruler. Sumerian kings came to be viewed as divine soon after their reigns, like Sargon the Great of Akkad....
China
In China, the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.) made Confucianism the de facto state religion, establishing tests based on Confucian texts as an entrance requirement to government service. The Han emperors appreciated the social order that is central to Confucianism. Confucianism would continue to be the state religion until the Sui Dynasty (581-618 C.E.), when it was replaced by Mahayana Buddhism. Neo-Confucianism returned as the de facto state religion sometime in the tenth century. Note...
The Roman Empire
The State religion of the Roman Empire was Roman polytheism, centralized around the emperor. With the title Pontifex Maximus,the emperor was honored as a 'god' either posthumously or during his reign. Failure to worship the emperor as a god was at times punishable by death, as the Roman government sought to link emperor worship with loyalty to the Empire. Many Christians were persecuted, tortured and killed because they refused to worship the emperor. In 313 C.E., Constantine I and Licinius,...
Despite a general consensus among political philosophers in favor of the religious neutrality of the liberal democratic state, nowhere in Europe is this principle fully realized. From Ireland to Russia, Norway to Malta, a bewildering array of patterns of church-state relations reflect different confessional traditions, contrasting histories and dis...
Christianity
The following states give some official recognition to some form of Christianity although the actual legal status varies considerably:
Islam
Countries where Islam is the official religion: Afghanistan, Algeria (Sunni), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Comoros (Sunni), Egypt, Iran (Shi'a), Iraq, Jordan(Sunni), Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia (Sunni), Maldives, Mauritania (Sunni), Morocco, Oman, Pakistan (Sunni), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia (Sunni), Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Russiawhere it one of four recognized religions.
Judaism
Israel and Russiawhere it is one of four recognized religions.
Berg, Thomas C. 2004. The State and Religion in a Nutshell. West Group Publishing. ISBN 978-0314148858Brown, L. Carl. 2001. Religion and State. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231120395Fox, Jonathan. 2008. A World Survey of Religion and the State. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521707589Hasson, Kevin Seamus. 2005. The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America. Encounter Books. ISBN 1594030839All links retrieved January 3, 2020. 1. McConnell, Michael W. Establishment and Disestablishment at the Founding, Part I: Establishment of Religion William and Mary Law Review4(5) (2003): 2105, provided by Questia.com
A state religion (also called an official religion, established church or state church) is a religious group or creed officially accepted by the state. The term state church is used in context with Christianity , and is sometimes used for a specific national branch of Christianity.
Oct 3, 2017 · Roughly one-in-five (22%) of the world’s nations have an official state religion and a similar share (20%) have a preferred or favored faith tradition. The majority (53%) of the 199 countries we examined, including the U.S., have no official or preferred religion.
A state religion (also called official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state ), while not a secular state, is not necessarily a theocracy.
May 10, 2019 · May 10, 2019. Open as PDF. In 2005, Robert Barro and Rachel McCleary published a Harvard University study with the goal of determining whether and to what extent the presence of state religion influences the religiosity of the population. The study concluded that state religion does indeed increase religious participation and belief.
Wex. Religion and the Constitution. Because of their belief in a separation of church and state, the framers of the Constitution favored a neutral posture toward religion.
