The Confrontation between Religious and Secular Thought (original) (raw)

The Right to Freedom of Religion in the Italian Experience of Secularism

2017

Nell’esperienza italiana, il principio di laicita va misurato con gli altri principi e diritti della Carta Costituzionale, tenuto nel dovuto conto il relativo favore con il quale la Carta considera il fenomeno religioso nel suo complesso. In primo luogo, e agevole osservare che il motivo religioso allegato dall’autore di una determinata pratica non qualifica, di per se, la pratica in questione quale esercizio del suo diritto alla liberta religiosa. Inoltre, l’ampiezza del diritto all’esposizione dei simboli religiosi nell’ambiente o nell’abbigliamento dei fedeli – aspetto della liberta religiosa che forma oggetto del presente lavoro – varia in funzione delle circostanze del caso. Nell’interpretazione del principio di laicita, simboli quali il crocifisso e il velo femminile non sono del resto qualificati strettamente come “simboli religiosi” dall’ordinamento italiano. Adottando una prospettiva storica, si evidenzia come il loro significato trascenda la religione per esprimere un’ered...

The religious fact between society and politics in the Italian Modern and Contemporary history textbooks, «RiMe. Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea», 5/I n. s., dicembre 2019, pp. 57-74

RiMe. Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 2019

This contribution analyses the approach of the Italian Modern and Contemporary history textbooks, adopted within university programs, toward the religious fact, considered through its bonds with political, social and cultural phenomena. In this bonds is set up the base for the religious fact’s resilience in ‘modernity’: in the legitimacy that religious fact provides both to the principle of authority and to the resistance to any political and cultural power; in the aggregating or disruptive effect generated by religious identity and allegiance both in global and local politics. L’intervento analizza l’approccio della manualistica universitaria di argomento storico moderno e contemporaneo al fatto religioso, considerato soprattutto nel suo intreccio con fenomeni di lunga durata, politici, sociali, culturali. Proprio attraverso l’inscindibile legame con tali fenomeni il fatto religioso pone le basi della sua resilienza nella modernità: attraverso cioè la legittimazione che esso conferisce al principio di autorità così come alla resistenza ad ogni potere, politico o culturale, quale fattore di unità o movente al conflitto nella politica, in senso lato, locale e globale.

Doctrine, Promise, and Peace: The Role of Religion in the Rise of Fascist Italy

One must remember how large a role Catholicism played in Italian history, and this role was still quite present in the early twentieth century; this was very well understood by fascist movement, and thus collaboration with the church was sought, both to solve the ‘Roman Question’ that left the sovereignty of the Vatican uncertain as well as to support the movement in general. There were issues that could not be overcome in both ventures, however the dual power of the fascist regime and the Catholic church certainly made an impression upon the Italian people; religion was certainly not the most important contributor to the fascist movement, but the support of the church was necessary to further the cause. It is important when discussing the connections between fascism and religion to discuss the numerous ways in which religion was represented and implemented within the fascist regime, so this essay will be separated into three different sections: political religion, the ‘Roman Question’, and clerical fascism.

Italy and Controversies Around Religion-Related Issues: Overemphasizing Difference

In this short paper we focus on how ‘religious pluralism’ is constructed by political actors by comparatively analyzing controversies around religion-related issues that took place in Italy between 2001 and 2013. The paper draws on the results of four years of research on the Italian ethical-religious debates, based on the analysis of a wide database of printed media. It pays particular attention to how the debates have been framed by the different actors and how their coalitions changed over time and according to the various issues. In relation to the meaning of religious pluralism in contemporary Italy, the research shows on the one hand that political actors have different views of issues related to pluralism according to the values founding their worldview; on the other, they are ready to shift their allegiances and seek a compromise or rather frame the debates as struggles between nonnegotiable values according to their perception of short-term political interests. In other words, it is clear that the setting influences the forms of political debates and their outcomes. In addition, we identify three meanings of religious pluralism that emerge in the Italian public sphere: pluralism within the majority religious tradition; pluralism in relation to the dichotomy religion v secular; and pluralism in relation to the growing pluralization and hybridization of the religious landscape.

'The Clerical Response to a Totalitarian Political Religion: La Civiltà Cattolica and Italian Fascism', in: Journal of Contemporary History 46/2, 2011, p. 245-70

This paper offers a close reading of the discourse on Italian fascism within the authoritative Italian Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica. The author shows that, when confronted with the fascist movement, La Civiltà Cattolica made no moves to oppose the regime, instead positioning itself so as to negotiate with and accommodate the fascist rhetoric. This decision was driven in part by the close alignment between the politics of Catholicism and fascism, and further fostered by the absence of a viable alternative political power. The essay also illustrates the manner in which Catholic intellectuals intuitively perceived some aspects of fascist totalitarianism and the ‘sacralisation of politics’ as threatening, particularly when confronted with manifestations of what was termed ‘political heresy’, along with certain features of fascist associationalism. However, despite their concerns no explicit rupture between Church and regime ever eventuated; on the contrary, some accounts imply an intended merger, however unstable it may have proven, between the ‘religious’ and ‘totalitarian’ goals of both parties.