Christian state explained

A Christian state is a country that recognizes a form of Christianity as its official religion and often has a state church (also called an established church),[1] which is a Christian denomination that supports the government and is supported by the government.[2]

Historically, the nations of Aksum, Armenia, Makuria, and the Holy Roman Empire have declared themselves as Christian states, as well as the Roman Empire and its continuation the Byzantine Empire, the Russian Empire, the Spanish Empire, the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Frankish Empire, the Belgian colonial empire, the French empire.

Today, several nations officially identify themselves as Christian states or have state churches. These countries include Argentina, Armenia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Denmark (incl. Greenland and the Faroes), England, Georgia,[3] Greece, Hungary,[4] Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Norway,[5] Samoa, Serbia,[6] Tonga, Tuvalu, Vatican City, and Zambia. A Christian state stands in contrast to a secular state,[7] an atheist state,[8] or another religious state, such as a Jewish state,[9] or an Islamic state.[10]

History

The Armenian Orthodox church puts its founding at 301, with the conversion of Tiridates and declaration of Christianity as the official state religion, although the date is disputed.[11] In 380, three Roman emperors issued the Edict of Thessalonica (Cunctos populos), making the Roman Empire a Christian state,[12] and establishing Nicene Christianity, in the form of its State Church, as its official religion.[13]

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, the Eastern Roman Empire under the emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565), became the world's predominant Christian state, based on Roman law, Greek culture, and the Greek language."[14] [15] [16] In this Christian state, in which nearly all of its subjects upheld faith in Jesus, an "enormous amount of artistic talent was poured into the construction of churches, church ceremonies, and church decoration". John Binns describes this era, writing that:As a Christian state, Armenia "embraced Christianity as the religion of the King, the nobles, and the people".[17] In 326, according to official tradition of the Georgian Orthodox Church, following the conversion of Mirian and Nana, the country of Georgia became a Christian state, the Emperor Constantine the Great sending clerics for baptising people. In the 4th century, in the Kingdom of Aksum, after Ezana's conversion to the faith, this empire also became a Christian state.[18] [19]

In the Middle Ages, efforts were made in order to establish a Pan-Christianity state by uniting the countries within Christendom.[20] [21] Christian nationalism played a role in this era in which Christians felt the impulse to also recover those territories in which Christianity historically flourished, such as the Holy Land and North Africa.[22]

The First Great Awakening, American Revolution, and Second Great Awakening caused two rounds of disestablishment among the states of the new United States, from 1776 to 1833.[23]

Modern era

Argentina

Article 2 of the Constitution of Argentina explicitly states that "the Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith" and Article 14 guarantees freedom of religion.[24] [25] Although it enforces neither an official nor a state faith, it gives Catholic Christianity a preferential status.[26] [27] Before its 1994 amendment, the Constitution stated that the President of the Republic must be a Roman Catholic.

Armenia

In Armenia Christianity is the state religion and the Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church. Armenia is the earliest Christian state.

Costa Rica

The constitution of Costa Rica states that "The Catholic and Apostolic Religion is the religion of the State".[28] As such, Catholic Christian holy days are recognized by the government and "public schools provide religious education", although parents are able to opt-out their children if they choose to do so.[29]

Denmark

As early as the 11th century AD, "Denmark was considered to be a Christian state",[30] [31] with the Church of Denmark, a member of the Lutheran World Federation, being the state church.[32] Prof. Wasif Shadid, of Leiden University, writes that:

Over 82% of the population of Denmark are members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark, which is "officially headed by the queen of Denmark".[33] Furthermore, clergy "in the Church of Denmark are civil servants employed by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs" and the "economic base of the Church of Denmark is state-collected church taxes combined with a direct state subsidiary (12%), which symbolically covers the expenses of the Church of Denmark to run the civil registration and the burial system for all citizens."[33]

England

Barbara Yorke writes that the "Carolingian Renaissance heightened appreciation within England of the role of king and church in a Christian state."[34] As such,

Christian religious education is taught to children in primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom.[35] English schools have a legal requirement for a daily act of collective worship "of a broadly Christian character"[36] that is widely flouted.[37]

Faroe Islands

The Church of the Faroe Islands is the state church of Faroe Islands.[38]

Georgia

Georgia is one of the oldest Christian states. Article 8 of Georgian Constitution and the Concordat of 2002 grants the Georgian Orthodox Church special privileges, which include legal immunity to the Patriarch of Georgia. The Orthodox Church is the most trusted institution in the country[39] [40] and its head, Patriarch Ilia II, the most trusted person.[41] [42]

Greece

Greece is a Christian state,[43] [44] with the Greek Orthodox Church playing "a dominant role in the life of the country".[45]

Mount Athos and most of the Athos peninsula are governed as an autonomous region in Greece by the monastic community of Mount Athos, which is ecclesiastically under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Greenland

Being an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark, the Church of Denmark is the established church of Greenland through the Constitution of Denmark:

This applies to all of the Kingdom of Denmark, except for the Faroe Islands, as the Church of the Faroe Islands became independent in 2007.

Hungary

The preamble to the Hungarian Constitution of 2011 describes Hungary as "part of Christian Europe" and acknowledges "the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood", while Article VII provides that "the State shall cooperate with the Churches for community goals". However, the constitution also guarantees freedom of religion and separation of church and state.[4]

Iceland

Around AD 1000, Iceland became a Christian state.[46] The Encyclopedia of Protestantism states that:

All public schools have mandatory education in Christianity, although an exemption may be considered by the Minister of Education.[47]

Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein's constitution designates the Catholic Church as being the state Church of that country.[48] In public schools, per article 16 of the Constitution of Liechtenstein, religious education is given by Church authorities.[48]

Malta

Section Two of the Constitution of Malta specifies the state's religion as being the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion.[49] It holds that the "authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty to teach which principles are right and which are wrong" and that "religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education".[50]

Monaco

Article 9 of the Constitution of Monaco describes " [the catholic, [[apostolic succession|apostolic]] and Roman religion]" as the religion of the state.[51]

Norway

Church and state were formally separated in 2017 after a change to the constitution in 2012.[52] [53] A timeline for the relationship between church and state is provided on the Norwegian Government's official website.[54]

Cole Durham and Tore Sam Lindholm, writing in 2013, stated that "For a period of one thousand years Norway has been a kingdom with a Christian state church" and that a decree went out in 1739 ordering that "Elementary schooling for all Norwegian children became mandatory, so that all Norwegians should be able to read the Bible and the Lutheran Catechism firsthand."[55] The modern Constitution of Norway stipulates that "The Church of Norway, an Evangelical-Lutheran church, will remain the Established Church of Norway and will as such be supported by the State."[56] As such, the "Norwegian constitution decrees that Lutheranism is the official religion of the State and that the King is the supreme temporal head of the Church."[57] The administration of the Church "is shared between the Ministry for Church, Education and Research centrally and municipal authorities locally",[58] and the Church of Norway "depends on state and local taxes".[59] The Church of Norway is responsible for the "maintenance of church buildings and cemeteries".[60] In the mid-20th century, the vast majority of Norwegians participated in the Lutheran Church. According to a 1957 description, "[o]ver 90 percent of the population are married by state church clergymen, have their children baptized and confirmed, and finally are buried with a church service."[61] However, current membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway is much lower, standing at 65% of the population in 2021. [62]

Samoa

Samoa became a Christian state in 2017. Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that “Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.[63]

Serbia

See main article: Religion in Serbia, Eastern Orthodoxy in Serbia and Serbian Orthodox Church. Serbia as a territory became a Christian state during the time of Constantine the Great in Christianization of Eastern Roman Empire, according to the research and discoveries of artifacts left by the Illyrians, Triballi and other kindred tribes. More research has since been made that perhaps prove the existence of Serbs living in the Balkans during Roman times in Ilyria. In the centuries that followed from the fourth- to the 12th-century, when Catholic Church was in a battleground between Serbia due the Eastern Orthodox Church, Serbia prevailed as Orthodox Christian state under his jurisdiction through Saint Sava.[64]

Serbia as modern state, defines in his constitution as a secular state with guaranteed religious freedom.[65] However, orthodox Christians with 6,079,396 comprise 84.5% of country's population. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the largest and traditional church of the country, adherents of which are overwhelmingly Serbs. And the church directly or indirectly has both cultural influence on the decisions and positions of the state.[66] [67] [68]

Tonga

Tonga became a Christian state under George Tupou I in the 19th century,[69] [70] with the Free Wesleyan Church, a member of the World Methodist Council, being established as the country's state Church.[71] Under the rule of George Tupou I, there was established a "rigorous constitutional clause regulating observation of the Sabbath".[69]

Tuvalu

The Church of Tuvalu, a Calvinist church in the Congregationalist tradition, is the state church of Tuvalu and was established as such in 1991.[72] The Constitution of Tuvalu identifies Tuvalu as "an independent State based on Christian principles".[73]

Vatican City

Vatican City is a Christian state, in which the "Pope is ex officio simultaneously leader of the Catholic Church as well as Head of State and Head of the Government of the State of the Vatican City; he also possesses absolute authority over the legislative, executive and judicial branches."[74]

Zambia

Jeroen Temperman, a professor of international law at Erasmus University Rotterdam writes that:

After "Zambia declared itself a Christian nation in 1991", "the nation's vice president urged citizens to 'have a Christian orientation in all fields, at all levels'."[75]

Established churches and former state churches

Current

Location Church Denomination Notes
Elevated from a diocese of the Church of Denmark in 2007 (the two remain in close cooperation)
Eastern Orthodox[76] The Church of Greece is recognized by the Greek Constitution as the "prevailing religion" in Greece. However, this provision does not give official status to the Church of Greece, while all other religions are recognized as equal and may be practiced freely.[77]
Under discussion to be elevated from The Diocese of Greenland in the Church of Denmark to a state church for Greenland, along‐the‐lines the Faroese Church took in 2007
Catholic Church[78]
1999, reestablished again in 2020–present

Former

Location Church Denomination Disestablished
1918, during the German Revolution
1921
1918, under the Federal Constitutional Law
1918, during the German Revolution
1918, during the German Revolution
1918, during the German Revolution
1918, during the German Revolution
1918, during the German Revolution
2009, under the Constitution of Bolivia
1890
1918, during the German Revolution
1946
1925
1936[79]
1818, under the Constitution of Connecticut
1902
1977, with the death of the Ethnarch Makarios III
1920, under the Czechoslovak Constitution
1783
1974, after the formation of the Derg
1869, however the organisation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is regulated by the Constitution of Finland[80] and Church Act of 1993.[81] The state also carries out taxing for the funding of the church on its members.
1917
1905, under the law on the Separation of the Churches and the State
1921
1871
1987
1893, after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom
1918, during the German Revolution
1946
1871
1973
1985, see
1918
1940
1918
Not an official state church
1921
1918
1918
1857, under the Federal Constitution (reestablished between 1864 and 1867)
1795
1674 (colony surrendered to English rule)
1850
2017, by legislation[82] [83]
1850
1918
1904
1992[84]
1993, under the Constitution of Peru
1898
Poland1947
1910, 1976, (reestablished between 1933 and 1974)
1850
1789
1776
1834[85]
1877
1776
1790
Prussia
pre-1866 provinces 		Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces with nine ecclesiastical provinces 1918
1918
Prussia
Province of Hanover 		1918
Prussia
Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)		1918
Prussia
Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)		1918
Prussia
Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)		1918
1918
1960, after the Quiet Revolution
1947
1917, after the Russian Revolution
1864
1918
1918
Evangelical State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe1918
State control disclaimed since 1638. Formally recognised as not an established church in 1921
1946
1978
2000
separate Cantonal Churches («Landeskirchen») during the 20th century
1854
1918, (into effect in 1919)
1786
1918
1920
1783
1918

National church

See main article: National church. A number of countries have a national church which is not established (as the official religion of the nation), but is nonetheless recognised under civil law as being the country's acknowledged religious denomination. Whilst these are not Christian states, the official Christian national church is likely to have certain residual state functions in relation to state occasions and ceremonial. Examples include Scotland (Church of Scotland) and Sweden (Church of Sweden). A national church typically has a monopoly on official state recognition, although unusually Finland has two national churches (the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Finnish Orthodox Church), both recognised under civil law as joint official churches of the nation.

See also

References

Sources

Legal documents

Notes and References

  1. Book: Backhouse, Stephen. Kierkegaard's Critique of Christian Nationalism. 7 July 2011. Oxford University Press. 9780199604722. 60. ...it is only as an established institution that the Church can fully preserve and promote Christian tradition to the nation. One cannot have a Christian state without a state Church..
  2. Book: Eberle, Edward J.. Church and State in Western Society: Established Church, Cooperation and Separation. 28 February 2013. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 9781409497806. 6. Under the established church approach, the government will assist the state church and likewise the church will assist the government. Religious education is mandated by law to be taught in all schools, public or private..
  3. http://www.parliament.ge/en/kanonmdebloba/constitution-of-georgia-68 Constitution of Georgia
  4. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Hungary_2011.pdf Hungary's Constitution of 2011
  5. Web site: The Constitution of Norway, Article 16 (English translation, published by the Norwegian Parliament) . 2015-11-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150908050922/https://stortinget.no/globalassets/pdf/constitutionenglish.pdf . 2015-09-08 . dead .
  6. Paul Pavlovich. The History of the Serbian Orthodox Church
  7. Book: Boer, Roland. Criticism of Earth: On Marx, Engels and Theology. 8 June 2012. Brill Academic Publishers. 9789004225589. 168. Yet what is intriguing about this argument is that this modern secular state arises from, or is the simultaneous realisation and negation of, the Christian state..
  8. Book: Marx. Karl. McLellan. David. Karl Marx: Selected Writings. 2000. Oxford University Press. 9780198782650. 55. Indeed, it is not the so-called Christian state, that one that recognizes Christianity as its basis, as the state religion, and thus adopts an exclusive attitude to other religions, that is the perfected Christian state, but rather the atheist state, the ....
  9. Book: Burns, J. Patout. War and Its Discontents: Pacifism and Quietism in the Abrahamic Traditions. 1 April 1996. Georgetown University Press. en. 9781589018778. 92. The religious group is confronted by a pagan state, a Jewish state, a Christian state, an Islamic state, or a secular state..
  10. Book: Sjoberg, Laura. Gender, Justice, and the Wars in Iraq. 1 January 2006. Lexington Books. 9780739116104. 24. Just as Christian just war theory justified the actions of the Christian state, Islamic jihad theory began with the founding of the Islamic state..
  11. Binns, John. An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 30. .
  12. Book: Ashby, Warren. A Comprehensive History Of Western Ethics. 4 July 2010. Prometheus Books. 9781615926947. 152. In the Edict of Thessalonica (380) he expressed the imperial "desire" that all Roman citizens should become Christians, the emperor adjudging all other madmen and ordering them to be designated as heretics,...condemned as such...to suffer divine punishment, and, therewith, the vengeance of that power, which we, by celestial authority, have assumed. There was thus created the "Christian State.".
  13. Book: Ismael. Jacqueline S.. Ismael. Tareq Y.. Perry. Glenn. Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East. 5 October 2015. Taylor & Francis. 9781317662822. 48. Theodosius did so through the 380 CE 'Edict of Thessalonica,' which established Nicene Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire, with the Bishop of Rome as Pope..
  14. Book: Frucht, Richard C. . Eastern Europe . . 2004 . 9781576078006 . 627 . In contrast, the emperor Justinian (527–565) refashioned the eastern part of the Roman Empire into a strong and dynamic Byzantine Empire, which claimed Dalmatia, among other provinces. The Byzantine Empire became the world's predominant Christian state, based on Roman law, Greek culture, and the Greek language..
  15. Book: Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization. 1 January 2013. Cengage Learning. 9781285500195. 155. The Byzantine Empire was both a Greek and a Christian state. Increasingly, Latin fell into disuse as Greek became both the common and the official language of the empire. The Byzantine Empire was also built on a faith in Jesus that was shared by almost all of its citizens. An enormous amount of artistic talent was poured into the construction of churches, church ceremonies, and church decoration. Spiritual principles deeply permeated Byzantine art..
  16. Book: Truxillo, Charles A.. Periods of World History: A Latin American Perspective. 1 January 2008. Jain Publishing Company. 9780895818638. 103. The Byzantine Empire, stripped of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, became a compact Orthodox Christian state, upholding its claim to Roman universalism and constructing an Orthodox Christian commonwealth among the Slavs of the Balkans and Russia..
  17. Book: Milman. Henry Hart. Murdock. James. The History of Christianity. 1887. A. C. Armstrong & Son . 258. But while Persia fiercely repelled Christianity from its frontier, upon that frontier arose a Christian state. Armenia was the first country which embraced Christianity as the religion of the King, the nobles, and the people..
  18. Book: Ching. Francis D. K.. Jarzombek. Mark M.. Prakash. Vikramaditya. A Global History of Architecture. 13 December 2010. John Wiley & Sons. 9780470402573. 213. In the 4th century, King Ezana converted to Christianity and declared Aksum a Christian state—the first Christian state in the history of the world..
  19. Book: Stanton. Andrea L.. Ramsamy. Edward. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. 5 January 2012. SAGE Publications. 9781412981767. 1. Then, in the early 4th century, Ezana, Aksum's ruler, converted to Christianity and proclaimed Aksum a Christian state..
  20. Book: Snyder . Louis L. . Encyclopedia of Nationalism . 1990 . St. James Press . 978-1-55862-101-5 . 282 . en . Major religions in the past, especially Christianity, have attempted to include all their adherents in a large union, but they have not been successful. Throughout most of the Middle Ages in Western Europe, attempts were made again and again to unite all the Christian world into a kind of Pan-Christianity, which would combine all Christians in a secular-religious state as a successor to the Roman Empire..
  21. Book: Snyder . Louis Leo . Macro-nationalisms: A History of the Pan-movements . 1984 . Greenwood Press . 978-0-313-23191-9 . 129 . en . Throughout the better part of the Middle Ages, elaborate attempts were made to create what was, in effect, a Pan-Christianity, an effort to unite "all" the Western Christian world into a successor state of the Roman Empire..
  22. Book: Parole de l'Orient, Volume 30 . 2005 . Université Saint-Esprit . 488 . en.
  23. Web site: Vile . John R. . Established Churches in Early America . 2023-04-25 . www.mtsu.edu . en.
  24. Web site: Argentina's Constitution of 1853, Reinstated in 1983, with Amendments through 1994. constituteproject.org.
  25. Web site: Argentina – Religión. argentina.gob.ar. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20141008102111/http://www.argentina.gob.ar/pais/56-religion.php. 8 October 2014.
  26. In practice this privileged status amounts to tax-exempt school subsidies and licensing preferences for radio broadcasting frequencies.
  27. Web site: International Religious Freedom Report 2012 – Argentina. US Department of State. Washington, D. C.. 2012.
  28. Book: Yakobson. Alexander. Rubinstein. Amnon. Israel and the Family of Nations: The Jewish Nation-state and Human Rights. 2009. Taylor & Francis. 9780415464413. 215. Thus the Constitution of Costa Rica, which is considered a model of stable democracy in Latin America, states in Article 75: The Catholic and Apostolic Religion is the religion of the State, which contributes to its maintenance, without preventing the free exercise in the Republic of other forms of worship that are not opposed to universal morality or good customs..
  29. Book: Merriman, Scott A.. Religion and the State: An International Analysis of Roles and Relationships. 14 July 2009. ABC-CLIO. 9781598841343. 148. The government as a whole treats religion well and allows missionaries to freely enter and move around the country. Only the Catholic holy days are recognized as holidays, but the state generally allows people time to celebrate their holy days if they are of another religion. The public schools provide religious education, but parents can opt their children out if they choose..
  30. Book: Warburg. Margit. Christoffersen. Lisbet. Petersen. Hanne. Hans Raun Iversen. Religion in the 21st Century. 28 June 2013. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 9781409480860. 85.
  31. Book: Künker Auktion 121 - The De Wit Collection of Medieval Coins. Numismatischer Verlag Künker. 206. Sweyn brought about Denmark's transition from a tribal civilisation to an early Christian state and furthermore modernised the organisation of the Christian church..
  32. Book: The Lutheran Standard, Volume 27. 1987. Augsburg Publishing House. The state church of Denmark is Lutheran and a member of the Lutheran World Federation..
  33. Book: Juergensmeyer. Mark. Roof. Wade Clark. Encyclopedia of Global Religion. 18 October 2011. SAGE Publications. 9781452266565. 292. A majority of Danes, 82.1% (as of January 2008), are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark—by Section 4 of the constitution, the state church, officially headed by the queen of Denmark. Pastors in the Church of Denmark are civil servants employed by the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs, which also constitutes the head of administration. The economic base of the Church of Denmark is state-collected church taxes combined with a direct state subsidiary (12%), which symbolically covers the expenses of the Church of Denmark to run the civil registration and the burial system for all citizens..
  34. Book: Yorke, Dr Barbara. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England. 1 November 2002. Routledge. 9781134707256. 176. The Carolingian Renaissance heightened appreciation within England of the role of king and church in a Christian state..
  35. Book: Eberle, Professor Edward J. Church and State in Western Society: Established Church, Cooperation and Separation. 28 February 2013. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 9781409497806. 6. In the UK, the state church is the Church of England, a Protestant church. Under the established church approach, the government will assist the state church and likewise the church will assist the government. Religious education is mandated by law to be taught in all schools, public or private..
  36. Book: López-Muñiz. José Luis Martínez. Groof. Jan De. Lauwers. Gracienne. Religious Education in Public Schools: Study of Comparative Law. 17 January 2006. Springer Science & Business Media. 9781402038631. 163. The requirement that the collective worship be of a broadly Christian character is satisfied '...if it reflects the broad traditions of Christian belief without being distinctive of any particular Christian denomination.' Furthermore, it is expressly provided that not every act of collective worship be of a broadly Christian character: the requirement is satisfied provided that, taking any school term as a whole, the majority of acts of collective worship are broadly Christian in character..
  37. News: State schools 'ignoring assembly' despite legal requirement . 1 May 2020 . The Telegraph . 6 September 2011.
  38. Web site: Heim Hagstova Føroya . 2023-04-25 . hagstova.fo.
  39. Web site: Caucasus Barometer 2013 Georgia.
  40. Web site: Georgian church more trusted than parliament, president and PM together. 11 May 2018.
  41. Web site: Patriarch Ilia II: 'Most trusted man in Georgia' - CNN.com . 2023-04-25 . www.cnn.com . en.
  42. Web site: Civil.Ge Politicians' Ratings in NDI-Commissioned Poll . 2023-04-25 . old.civil.ge.
  43. Book: Jiang, Qing. A Confucian Constitutional Order. 2012. Princeton University Press. 9780691154602. 221. The features of the state affect the essence of the state, but the key term is that of historical identity, hence this chapter concentrates on historical identity as the essence of the state, though at times some of the other features will also be referred to. For instance, ancient Greece has now become an Orthodox Christian state. Ancient Persia (Iran) has now become a Muslim state, and the ancient Buddhist states of the Silk Route have also become Islamic states..
  44. Book: Enyedi. Zsolt. Madeley. John T.S.. Church and State in Contemporary Europe. 2 August 2004. Routledge. 9781135761417. 119. Greece is the only Orthodox country in the EU..
  45. Book: Meyendorff, John. The Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today. 1981. St Vladimir's Seminary Press. 9780913836811. 155. Greece therefore is today the only country where the Orthodox Church remains a state church and plays a dominant role in the life of the country..
  46. Book: Kendrick, T. D.. A History of the Vikings. 15 March 2012. Courier Corporation. 9780486123424. 350. In becoming a Christian state, then, Iceland had avoided the chaos that was threatened by the secession of the Christian party from Althing and had cemented her friendship with the mother-country of Norway..
  47. Book: Jonathan Fox. A World Survey of Religion and the State (Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics). Cambridge University Press. All public schools have mandatory education in Christianity. Formally, only the Minister of Education has the power to exempt students from this but individual schools usually grant informal exemptions.. 978-0-521-70758-9. 2008.
  48. Book: Fox, Jonathan. A World Survey of Religion and the State. 19 May 2008. Cambridge University Press. 9781139472593. 119. Liechtenstein's constitution designates the Catholic Church as the state Church and guarantees religious freedom. Article 38 provides protection for the property rights of all religious institutions and states that "the administration of church property in the parishes shall be regulated by a specific law; the agreement of church authorities shall be sought before the law is enacted." Article 16 states that religious instruction in public schools "shall be given by church authorities.".
  49. Web site: Chapter 1 – The Republic of Malta . Legal-Malta . 4 September 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110827044831/http://www.legal-malta.com/law/constitution-1.htm . 27 August 2011 .
  50. Book: Gozdecka, Dorota Anna. Rights, Religious Pluralism and the Recognition of Difference: Off the Scales of Justice. 27 August 2015. Routledge. 9781317629801. 59. According to Section 2 of the Maltese Constitution from the year 1964, amended in 1994 and 1996, the state church of Malta is the Roman Catholic Church. According to the same section it is endowed with a legal right to determine moral rights and wrongs and is privileged in public education: 1. The religion of Malta is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion. 2. The authorities of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church have the duty to teach which principles are right and which are wrong. Religious teaching of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education..
  51. (French): Art. 9, Principaute De Monaco: Ministère d'Etat (archived from the original on 27 September 2011).
  52. Book: Anckar, Carsten . Religion and Democracy: A Worldwide Comparison . Routledge . 2021 . 2nd . 91.
  53. Morland . Egil . 2018 . New Relations between State and Church in Norway . European Journal of Theology . 27 . 2 . 162–169 . EBSCO Connect.
  54. Web site: Barne – og familiedepartementet . 2019-01-29 . Forholdet mellom stat og kirke - en utvikling over 1000 år . Regjeringen.no.
  55. Book: Durham . W. Cole . Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief . Lindholm . Tore Sam . Tahzib-Lie . Bahia . 11 December 2013 . Springer . 9789401756167 . 778.
  56. https://www.stortinget.no/globalassets/pdf/constitutionenglish.pdf The Constitution of Norway, Article 16 (English translation, published by the Norwegian Parliament)
  57. Book: Singh, Vikram. Norway: The Champion of World Peace. 1 January 2008. Northern Book Centre. 9788172112455. 81.
  58. Book: Eriksen . Tore Linné . Norway and National Liberation in Southern Africa . Afrikainstitutet . Nordiska . Nordic Africa Institute . 2000 . 9789171064479 . 271.
  59. Book: Fahlbusch, Erwin. The Encyclopedia of Christianity. 2003. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 9780802824158. 796.
  60. Book: Country Profile: Norway. 1994. The Unit. 9.
  61. Book: Flint, John T.. State, church and laity in Norwegian society: a typological study of institutional change. 1957. University of Wisconsin–Madison. 10.
  62. Web site: Church of Norway . 2023-04-25 . SSB . en.
  63. . Samoa Officially Becomes a Christian State . Grant . Wyeth . June 16, 2017 . June 16, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170616153746/https://thediplomat.com/2017/06/samoa-officially-becomes-a-christian-state/ . June 16, 2017.
  64. Book: PART III. SERVIA.
  65. Web site: Article 11. Constitution of Serbia. Parlament of Serbia.
  66. Web site: Cultural Atlas – Serbian Culture and Religion . January 2017 .
  67. Web site: November 2010 . 'The Serbian Church is Privileged in Society Today' – Balkan Insight .
  68. Web site: Georgetown University . Berkley Center - Religion as a Political Vehicle: An Examination of the Influence of Orthodoxy in Serbia by Russia. November 2010 .
  69. Book: Fodor's. Fodor's South Pacific. 12 February 1986. Fodor's. 9780679013075. As King George I of Tonga, Tupou created the "modern" Christian state with the Cross dominating its flag, and with the rigorous constitutional clause regulating observation of the Sabbath..
  70. Book: Oliver, Douglas L.. The Pacific Islands. 1 January 1989. University of Hawaii Press. 9780824812331. 118. Tonga, according to its mission friends, exemplified how grace and selfless devotion to the task could transform a feuding array of heathen communities into a unified Christian state..
  71. Book: Bell, Daphne. New to New Zealand: a guide to ethnic groups in New Zealand. 26 April 2005. Reed Books. 9780790009988. Nearly all Tongans are Christian, and about 30 percent belong to the Free Wesleyan Church, the official state church..
  72. Book: Ferrari, Silvio. Routledge Handbook of Law and Religion. 3 May 2015. Routledge. 9781135045555. 217. Recent trends have moved in opposite directions: while the parliament of Tuvalu in 1991 approved legislation establishing the (Congregationalist) Church of Tuvalu as the State Church, at the end of 2007 Nepal's provisional parliamentary assembly voted to abolish the monarchy whose kings were popularly held to be reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu..
  73. Book: Temperman, Jeroen. State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law. 2010. Brill Academic Publishers . 9789004181489. 18. The Constitution of Tuvalu in a similar vein constitutes Tuvalu as "an independent State based on Christian principles...and Tuvaluan custom and tradition"; and also the Constitution of Vanuatu proclaims in its Preamble: "[we] HEREBY proclaim the establishment of the united and free Republic of Vanuatu founded on traditional Melanesian values, faith in God, and Christian principles...".
  74. Book: Temperman, Jeroen. State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law. 2010. Brill Academic Publishers . 9789004181489. 18. The Catholic State of Vatican City is, of course, the best contemporary example of a Christian state. The State of Vatican City, originally established by the Lateran Pacts of 1929, approximates most faithfully the ideal-typical conception of theocratic Roman Catholic state. The Pope is ex officio simultaneously leader of the Catholic Church as well as Head of State and Head of the Government of the State of the Vatican City; he also possesses (de jure) absolute authority over the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Practically all acts and policies of the Vatican City revolve around the interests of the Holy See and, apart from the members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, virtually all inhabitants of the Vatican City are members of the clergy..
  75. Book: Jenkins, Philip. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. 11 August 2011. Oxford University Press. 9780199911530. 187.
  76. http://www.hri.org/docs/syntagma/artcl25.html#A3
  77. http://www.hri.org/docs/syntagma/artcl25.html#A13
  78. (archived from the original on 2009-03-26).
  79. John Gunter, Inside Latin America (1941), p. 166
  80. Web site: The Constitution of Finland. Ministry of Justice (Finland). 11 January 2020. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20190827234203/http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf. 27 August 2019. live.
  81. Web site: Kirkkolaki 1054/1993. Ministry of Justice (Finland). 11 January 2020. fi. https://web.archive.org/web/20191214122607/https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1993/19931054. 14 December 2019. live.
  82. Web site: Norway's church and state to divorce after almost 500 years. christiandaily.com. 2017-01-02. 2018-02-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20180220033211/http://www.christiandaily.com/article/norways-church-and-state-to-divorce-after-almost-500-years/59710.htm. dead.
  83. Web site: 2017 - et kirkehistorisk merkeår. 2017-12-30. Den norske kirke, Kirkerådet. 2017-01-02.
  84. Under the 1967 Constitution, Catholicism was the state religion as stated in Article 6: "The Catholic Apostolic religion is the state religion, without prejudice to religious freedom, which is guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. Official relations of the republic with the Holy See shall be governed by concordats or other bilateral agreements." The 1992 Constitution, which replaced the 1967 one, establishes Paraguay as a secular state, as mentioned in section (1) of Article 24: "Freedom of religion, worship, and ideology is recognized without any restrictions other than those established in this Constitution and the law. The State has no official religion."
  85. Notes on Disestablishment in Massachusetts, 1780-1833 . John D. Cushing . The William and Mary Quarterly . 26 . 2 . April 1969 . 169–190 . Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 10.2307/1918674 . 1918674 .

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