Religious minorities in democratic Spain : rekindling the past and considering the future 

Claude Proeschel (1)

1 GSRL - Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités

Since 1978, democracy in Spain has been founded on the idea of a civic nation and a community of citizens. This was a break from the notion of a national Catholicism that has been ever-present in Spain’s history. It is also a fundamental political project founded on the principle of equality. Legislative and symbolic improvements on the status of religious minorities, as well as their implementation into public policy, are indicative of Spain’s unique history. This chapter is organized in two parts. We will first present research data on society and religion in Spain and discuss the ways in which democracy has tried to achieve civic equality through the legal integration of religious minorities and the implementation of symbolic measures, with the aim of giving everyone the opportunity to belong to the national community. Reference to the past has played an important role in both of these objectives. In the second part we will show that, in a society of continued religious unity and despite the loss of Catholicism’s influence, the adopted measures have proven insufficient in achieving real equality. In the past decade, there has been a public policy shift toward the strengthening of real equality in the aim of achieving a commonplace acceptance of minorities in the future.

Mots clés: Religious minorities; Spain; Democracy

Domaines: Science politique

Claude Proeschel. Religious minorities in democratic Spain : rekindling the past and considering the future . Minority Religions in Europe and the Middle East, 2017. ⟨halshs-01591761⟩