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Monday, July 3, 2023

Catholic Church and politics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pope Francis with then US President Barack Obama, 2015

The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. The Catholic Church's views and teachings have evolved over its history and have at times been significant political influences within nations.

Overview

Historically, the Church followed the policy of strict neutrality, with Catholic thinkers such as Eusebius of Caesarea believing that the Church should not concern itself with political matters. However, Saint Augustine, one of the Doctors of the Church, influenced the Church towards his theory of minimal involvement in politics, according to which the Church "accepted the legitimacy of even pagan governments that maintained a social order useful to Christians as well and to the extent that the freedom of the Church to carry out its evangelical task was allowed." In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas discussed the concept of political legitimacy and the moral issues of using political power, concluding that explicit limitations to governmental power are necessary. Later Thomists such as Saint Cajetan, Francisco Suárez and Robert Bellarmine introduced the idea of early Christian democracy, according to which political power was granted by God to each community, and every political official was to obey the community's determination in his political decisions; according to this concept, the community could transfer the authority from one official to another as well.

In early Church, the biblical passage Matthew 22:21 ("Render to Ceasar, the things that are Ceasar's, and to God, the things that are God's") was a source of discussion regarding the role of the Church and its relations with secular governments, defining the dualism of Catholic political thinking - unlike earlier religions, the Catholic Church became a separate, independent institution that was not a part of any ethnic or political structures of already existing communities. The Church's doctrine considered Christian communities to be the "recipients of divine grace and inspiration", along with the clergy. Paul E. Sigmund argues that democratic thinking was already present in the early Church, as early Catholics "acted as communities to make decisions about common affairs, becoming almost independent self-governing entities in periods of persecution". Medieval Catholic thinkers advanced this idea - John of Salisbury spoke of a conceptual democracy based on the ideals of Christian corporatism, comparing the organisation of society to the structure of the human body, with each social class having its role in the society and democratic right to participate in politics. The Church's tradition of that period was that both the government and laws were seen as emerging from the people, and justified with their consent (consensus). Catholic thinkers believed that governmental authority was to be limited by natural as well as customary laws, in addition to independent institutions such as the Church. The papal authority was also considered one that had to be checked and balanced, by both aristocratic (episcopalist) and democratic (election of the Pope by the conclave) means. According to Walter Ullmann, medieval Catholic scholars came close to envisioning and endorsing democracy in its modern form, with Saint Thomas writing that the law should be formulated by "the whole community or the person who represents it" and describing a regime in which "all participate in the election of those who rule" as the best form of governance, formulating the concept of universal suffrage. Saint Thomas also recognised the limit to the papal authority, writing that the pope can only intervene in affairs "with respect to those in which the temporal power is subject to him".

However, the Church strongly rejected and clashed with regimes of anti-clerical and anti-Catholic nature. This included Revolutionary France, where the Church was the target of harsh persecution; hundreds of Catholic priests were murdered in the September Massacres, and the Reign of Terror that followed partly targeted the Church as well. The Church also opposed the German Unification and the German regime led by Otto von Bismarck responsible for the anti-Catholic and anti-Polish Kulturkampf policy, which aimed to establish an exclusively Protestant German identity; Catholic minorities such as Poles and the French were persecuted, and "German Catholics were imagined as Germany's internal foreigners and increasingly marginalized from German society and politics as enemies of the new Reich". The Church also opposed the Unification of Italy, put in motion by anti-clerical nationalism and resulting in the abolition of the Papal States. Although the Church's resistance to French, German and Italian regimes is seen as an example of the Church's opposition to democracy, Bradley Lewis argues that these regimes were not democratic at all, and Carolyn M. Warner states that the Church "adapted to democratic context" and supported democracy as long as it respected clerical interests.

Despite its struggle against democratic and liberal anti-clericalism, the Church's committment to a communitarian and Christian type of democracy was officially established by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclicals Au Milieu des Sollicitudes and Graves de communi re. There, Pope Leo XIII endorsed democracy as the most Catholic type of governance, but warned that a Catholic democracy must "benefit the lower classes of society", work for the common good and reject individualism in favor of communitarianism, thus reaffirming the Church's rejection of "individualistic liberal" capitalism. These declarations laid the foundation of Catholic social teaching, which rejected both capitalism and communism. In terms of political development, Catholic social teaching endorsed democracy on the condition that it constitutes a protection of human dignity and the moral law, and valued common good over individualism.

Prior to World War II, numerous Catholic thinkers advanced the idea of a Catholic political regime; Jacques Maritain argued that democracy was a "fruit of the Gospel itself and its unfolding in history", writing that political Catholicism in its essence promotes democracy based on "justice, charity, and the realization of a fraternal community". More conservative Catholic thinkers such as Yves Simon also fully endorsed democracy, but saw it as a way to prevent the exploitation of the poor and abuse of the Church by the ruling class; in that sense, the conservative Catholic view of democracy was one that supported democracy as an "institutionalization of the people’s right of resistance against tyranny." The concept of Catholic democracy was further established by Pope Pius XII in his 1944 Christmas Message, in which he stressed that a "true democracy" must see the people as a "body of citizens" rather than "simply a mass", as the former will make the citizens aware of their fellow rights and duties, while the latter is "an undifferentiated multitude open to manipulation by demagogues". He also affirmed the need for an "authentic democracy" to follow communitarian and Catholic values:

Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person. It requires that the necessary conditions be present for the advancement both of the individual through education and formation in true ideals, and of the “subjectivity” of society through the creation of structures of participation and shared responsibility. Nowadays there is a tendency to claim that agnosticism and skeptical relativism are the philosophy and the basic attitude which correspond to democratic forms of political life. Those who are convinced that they know the truth and firmly adhere to it are considered unreliable from a democratic point of view, since they do not accept that truth is determined by the majority, or that it is subject to variation according to different political trends. It must be observed in this regard that if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism.

In the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI endorsed the notion that the Church must fight not only for democracy itself but also for human rights, and it was concluded that participation in public affairs, to the degree that the country’s level of development allowed, was a human right; the council also confirmed the Church's duty to promote democracy as a system that best ensured the protection of the common good. According to the teachings of Pope John Paul II, any political regime must be measured by its ability to protect human dignity, which is "rooted in man’s living in both freedom and truth". Pope John Paul II describes democracy as having three dimensions:

  • the participation of citizens in political decision-making;
  • elections and the consequent accountability to the voters of political officials;
  • and the notion that democracy is more likely to pursue the common good as distinct from the good of the rulers only.

However, John Paul II also highlighted that a democracy cannot be individualist, as a free civil society is one that provides "a widespread opportunity for participation in the goods only available to persons through cooperation". John Paul II also stressed the need for subsidiarity and the need for local self-government that would preserve regional cultures, and remarked that a "high degree of moral achievement" and adherence to Catholic virtues as well as "courage, moderation, justice, and prudence" are needed for democracy to succeed. Pope Benedict XVI defined democracy as protector of human dignity, and stressed that abandoning "moral reasoning" in favor of purely technical reasoning promoted by total understanding of "modern science and technology" can lead to a "dictatorship of relativism", which would lack universal moral values. Benedict XVI warned that "without a consciousness of the moral law, democracy cannot be sustained and degenerates into the dictatorship of relativism or what Tocqueville famously called the “tyranny of the majority.”

19th century

As a program and a movement, political Catholicism – a political and cultural conception which promotes the ideas and social teaching of the Catholic Church in public life through government action – was started by Prussian Catholics in the second half of the 19th century. German Catholics opposed the German Unification, as they wished to preserve the independence of German nations as well as the old German Confederation, which guaranteed Catholics religious freedom. When Catholic activists requested North German parliament to enact similar protections, "Protestant liberals in the North German parliament vetoed this request and pointed to it as an act of Catholic disloyalty". Under the Kulturkampf policy, Otto von Bismarck "associated the meaning of being German with Protestantism". Germany was proclaimed as a "distinctively Protestant empire". German authorities considered German Catholics foreign and saw them as a threat to creation of a homogenous German identity. Kulturkampf aimed to eliminate Catholicism from the cultural and public sphere completely - Catholics seminaries and schools were closed, church property was confiscated, and thousands of Catholic clergy were arrested or exiled. According to a German historian Herbert Lepper, the Kulturkampf was a "war of annihilation waged by the Prussian state against the Catholic Church as a spiritual-religious and political power".

According to Hajo Holborn, German liberals were ready to give up their liberal principles and support Kulturkampf out of anti-Catholic sentiment. Holborn notes that the measures against the Catholic Church "constituted shocking violations of liberal principles" and that "German liberalism showed no loyalty to the ideas of lawful procedure or of political and cultural freedom which had formerly been its lifeblood". Gordon A. Craig points out that German liberals were not coerced by the Prussian state into supporting the Kulturkampf legislation in any way, but willingly backed it despite the fact that it betrayed their principles and included provisions that enabled ethnic cleansing in Poland. Polish Catholics were forcibly removed from their houses, which were then given to the Prussian Settlement Commission. The Kulturkampf laws had a double purpose: they were directed against German Catholics, who were considered opponents of a unified German state and harboured pro-French sympathies, and against Poles, against whom the German state was conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign. Bismarck accused the Catholic Church of harbouring "Polish tendencies" and of actively "polonizing" German Catholics; Bismarck also saw the Church as a major obstacle to his Germanisation policies against Poles in Germany. Both the Catholic clergy and German Catholics were accused of aiding the Polish national movement, with Bismarck contending that Catholics in Germany "were actively supporting Polish candidates to the Reichstag". West Prussian officials would describe a "suspiciously agitated mood" amongst German Catholics, and a Danzig report from 1871 claimed that the Polish and German Catholic population "persists in its cool, suspicious attitude; even now hopes for the success of French arms are audible from these circles". The Kulturkampf did unite German Catholics and Poles as both were harshly affected by the anti-Catholic policies, and Catholics of Germany were supportive of the Polish national movement. As to counteract this, German settlers to Polish territories were exlusively Protestant, as the Prussian authorities believed that "the true German is a Protestant".

In reaction to the Kulturkampf legislation, Catholic distrust of the German state grew and German Catholics retreated into confessionally separate milieus - social organisations, devotional associations, the Catholic press and the political Catholicism of the Centre Party. These institutions became main vehicles of Catholic difference by promoting common Catholic values and worldviews. This led German Catholics to isolate themselves from German nationalism - German Catholics were opposed to a unified German state, and overwhelmingly rejected National Socialism. According to Jürgen W. Falter, 83% of recruits to the NSDAP were Protestant, while the Nazi Party failed to make any inroads among Catholics. Richard Steigmann-Gall observed that electorally, Catholic areas "saw near total opposition to the Nazis" and concluded that "Nazi party's share of a region's vote was inversely proportional to the Catholic percentage of its population".

From Germany, political Catholic social movements spread in Austria-Hungary, especially in today's Austria, Ukraine, Slovenia and Croatia. Catholic Action was the name of many groups of lay Catholics attempting to encourage Catholic influence on political society. Many Catholic movements were born in 19th-century Austria, such as the Progressive Catholic movement promoted by thinkers such as Wilfried Daim and Ernst Karl Winter. Once strongly opposed by the Church because of its anti-clerical tendencies, liberalism started to be reapproached by Catholics, giving birth to a Catholic liberal movement in Austria. As Austria was an overwhelmingly agrarian country until the 1930s, the Catholic social movement was mostly represented by agrarian leagues as well as rural trade unions. Catholic leaders had their roots in farming and artisan environments, and the social thought promoted by political Catholicism was communitarian and distributist, reflecting "the social model of the village". Anton Burghardt observes that Social Catholicism in Austria "was never friendly to capitalism; on the contrary, there was always a strong aversion to industrial capitalism in the Catholic camp". This allowed left-wing Catholic organisations to enter dialogue with socialist and social-democrat activists.

Political changes in Spain during the second half of the nineteenth century led to the development of Catholic Integrism and Carlism struggling against a separation of Church and State. The clearest expression of this struggle arose around the 1884 publication of the book Liberalism is a Sin by Roman Catholic priest Félix Sardà y Salvany. The book was rapidly referred to Rome, where it received a positive, albeit cautious welcome.

Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum (Of New Things) gave political Catholic movements an impulse to develop and to spread the area of their involvement. With this encyclical, the Catholic Church expanded its interest in social, economic, political and cultural issues, and it called for a drastic conversion of Western society in the 19th century in the face of capitalist influences. Following the release of the document, the labour movement which had previously floundered began to flourish in Europe, and later in North America. Mary Harris Jones ("Mother Jones") and the National Catholic Welfare Council were central in the campaign to end child labour in the United States during the early 20th century.

In Italy, Italian Catholics were divorced from Italian nationalism as well as the government itself because of its anti-clericalism. In late 19th century, Social Catholicism based on Catholic social teaching became a prevalent force amongst Italian Catholics, who started to organize themselves into labor federations and labour unions, promoting Catholic socialism as an alternative to the nationalist, anti-clerical socialism. These political developments led to the creation of Italian People's Party as well as the Confederazione Italiana dei Lavoratori, a Catholic socialist confederation of trade unions. Catholic trade union membership was particularly high among rural workers, small landowners and sharecroppers, as well as peasants. The Catholic ideal appealed to marginalised and impoverished groups, and proved itself a formidable alternative to socialist unions.

Catholic movements in the 20th century

In the 20th century, Catholic political movements became very strong in Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France and Latin America. What these movements had in common was a defense of the acquired rights of the Catholic Church (attacked by anticlerical politicians) and a defense of Christian faith and moral values (threatened by increasing secularization). Opponents called such efforts clericalism.

These Catholic movements developed various forms of Christian democratic ideology, generally promoting socially and morally conservative ideas such as traditional family values and a culture of life while supporting alternatives such as distributism to both unrestrained capitalism and state socialism. Freemasons were seen mainly as enemies and vehement opponents of political Catholicism. In Mexico, the atheist President Plutarco Elías Calles repressed the Church and Catholics, leading to the Cristero War that lasted from 1926 to 1929.

By the 20th century, the Church's writings on democracy were "directly read, read and commented upon" by Christian politicians, inspiring Christian democratic parties and movements in Europe and South America. A visit by Jacques Maritain in Chile provoked a split within the Conservative Party in 1938, with a progressive Catholic faction abandoning the party to found the National Falange. According to Paul E. Sigmund, Catholic social and political thought "became a major source of democratic theory" in Latin America as well as Europe.

Some of the earliest important political parties were:

Most of these parties in Europe joined together in the White International (1922), in opposition to the Communist International. Franco's mixture of Catholicism and nationalism received its own brand of National Catholicism and it inspired similar movements throughout Europe.

In addition to political parties, Catholic/Christian trade unions were created, which fought for worker's rights: the earliest include:

After World War II, more such unions were formed, including:

In the 20th century, and especially after the Second Vatican Council, the church came to be associated with moderately social-democratic and economically left-wing causes - after the encyclicals Rerum Novarum of 1891 and Quadragesimo Anno of 1931, the church firmly established its Christian Democrat outlook which supported "pluralistic democracy, human rights, and a mixed economy". Paul E. Sigmund describes the church's philosophy at that time as one that promoted "free institutions, the welfare state, and political democracy". According to G. Michael McCarthy, anti-Catholicism in the United States had xenophobic and racial, but also political, overtones - Southern Protestants "strongly opposed the church's liberal policies - particularly its uncompromising position against social and political segregation." According to John Hellman, "Not long before he died, Lenin told a French Catholic visitor that "only Communism and Catholicism offered two diverse, complete and inconfusible conceptions of human life". This led Maurice Thorez of the French Communist Party to offer "an outstretched hand" to French Catholics in 1936, wishing "to achieve a tactical alliance to head off fascism in France and Europe and to promote social progress". A large amount of French Catholics did enter a dialogue with the party, but to Thorez's surprise, "these Catholics were not, for the most part, the Catholic workers, clerks, artisans, peasants to whom Maurice Thorez had addressed his appeal, but rather Catholic philosophers, "social priests," journalists, and cardinals". While Catholics were wary of the socialist concept of the revolution, and strongly opposed to the atheism of most socialist movements, "strong criticism of capitalism and economic liberalism was a persistent theme in episcopal pronouncements and Catholic literature". The attempt of a Communist-Catholic unity in France is considered successful, as most French Catholics were opposed to fascism and when offered an alliance on grounds of anti-fascist unity, "saw the Communist offer as a religious and moral rather than political issue".

Similar alliance took place in Italy. According to a historian Elisa Carrillo, the Vatican was sceptical of "condemning any variety of communism", and Italian Catholics cooperated with Communists in the anti-fascist resistance. After WWII, members of the Italian Catholic Action "saw no essential incompatibility between Marxism and Catholicism" and established close ties with Communists such as Mario Alicata and Pietro Ingrao. Catholic Communists in Italy also had contacts with the clergy, such as with the priest Giuseppe De Luca. The church made "no attempt to suppress or condemn the efforts of these young people to reconcile Catholicism with Marxism", and in 1943, Cardinal Luigi Maglione intervened on behalf of 400 Communist Catholics who were arrested for anti-government demonstrations.

Following the council, the Catholic Church became linked to democratization movements in both developed and developing countries, opposing authoritarianism and advocating for human rights. However, this was not universal, and the extent of church involvement in politics varied greatly between countries. The church started actively opposing authoritarian regimes; in Chile, the church was opposed to the Pinochet Regime and helped rescue "thousands of foreigners and leftist activists that were fleeing the country or taking refuge in foreign embassies". The 1974 Bishops Conference in Chile harshly criticized the regime and urged for a return to democracy, and in 1975 the clergy started actively partaking in anti-government demonstrations. The church also opposed the Franco Regime. While the church in Spain was devastated after the Spanish Civil War and signed a concordat with the regime to ensure that it would avoid further persecution, it soon emerged as an opponent of the regime in the 1950s. The growing opposiion to the dictatorship forced the regime to start "fining priests for their sermons, jailing members of the clergy, and considering the expulsion of a bishop, thereby risking the excommunication of the government".

Nicola Rooney argues that although Spanish clergy was accused of collaborating with Francoist forces during the Spanish Civil War, "the regime had managed to exile a significant number of its opponents, thereby giving the illusion of unanimous support from the Church." In Francoist Spain, the "members of clergy were to play a leading role in the opposition to the dictatorship". This was particularly true for the Catholic clergy in "Basque Country and Catalonia, where the clergy were actively involved in regional nationalism, and also for those priests from Catholic worker organisations who took up the defence of striking workers". As the opposition from the Catholic Church intensified, the Franco regime soon started acting against the clergy, and a prison for Catholic priests called Concordat Prison was created. Hank Johnston and Jozef Figa also argue that in Spain, "the church was crucial in the nationalist and working-class wings of the anti-Francoist movement"; with help of the local clergy, Catholic churches served as shelters for illegal trade unions and anti-Francoist parties, as "the sanctity of the church, codified in Franco's 1953 Vatican Concordat, assured that the meeting would not be interrupted by the police".

Likewise, the church often founded and engaged in human rights groups in the 20th century - Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile was an anti-Pinochet group that was crucial in rescuing the victims of the regime, with its membership mostly including priests, nuns and middle-class Catholics. Similar Catholic groups were also organised in Brazil and Bolivia under authoritarian regimes there, where they endured police harassment. According to Józef Figa, the involvement of the Church in oppositionist groups was often very important for mobilising and uniting the opposition to authoritarian regimes. In Catalonia, opposition to the Franco regime "brought together members of the church and several illegal parties, including the Communists", while in Poland, Catholic opposition to the Communist regime was crucial in bridging a gap between intelligentsia oppositionist and worker and peasant organisations. Syzmon Chodak wrote: "The role of Catholic Clubs in unifying the opposition forces in Poland was spectacular. These legally independent Catholic organizations provided shop-windows for ideas and ideals of non-Catholics, left-wing socialists, humanists, and others as well as the church." Left-wing Catholic organisations that were common in Latin America and Europe, such as the Movement of Priests for the Third World, French worker-priests or Christians for Socialism not only provided aid to and organised working-class and urban poor Catholis, but also "provided a forum for contact between the middle class and the working class", especially in the context of opposing authoritarian regimes.

Concordats

Main article: Concordat

In dealing with hostile regimes, the Church has sometimes signed concordats, formal treaties which limit persecution of Catholic practices in return for concessions to the state. The Concordat of 1801, signed with Napoleon, reduced the persecution endured under the French Revolution in return for Church cooperation with Napoleon's rule. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 settled long-running disputes with Italy by recognising the independence of the Vatican City. The 1933 Reichskonkordat with the emergent Nazi Germany required clergy non-involvement in politics while allowing public practice of the Catholic faith. Similar purposes were served by the 2018 Holy See-China agreement which allowed Chinese government recommendation of bishops' appointments while permitting some practice of the faith.

United States

During the 1930s in America, Father Coughlin, initially a left-wing radical supporter of FDR's New Deal, Catholic priest and radio firebrand, expounded an anti-communist, social justice platform influenced by the Catholic faith. Coughlin later excoriated the Democratic Party, taking on an increasingly illiberal and anti-Semitic stance. The Catholic Church denounced Couglin's rhetoric for its anti-Semitism and hostility towards trade unions. The Archbishop of Detroit, Edward Aloysius Mooney, demanded Coughlin to cease his attacks on industrial unions such as the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The Catholic Church encouraged Catholic workers to join the CIO "to improve their economic status and to act as a moderating force in the new labor movement". Catholic clergy promoted and founded moderate trade unions, such as the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists and the Archdiocesan Labor Institute in 1939. American Catholics of that era were generally New Deal liberals who actively supported the CIO, viewed government as a positive force for social reform and often participated in non-communist trade unions, becoming a prominent group of the United Auto Workers. According to Colleen Doody, Catholics were the "backbone and the bane of New Deal liberalism".

Catholics are instructed to participate in the political process, be informed voters, and to encourage elected officials to act on behalf of the common good. There are, however, limits to official Church political activity. The Church engages in issue-related activity, but avoids partisan political candidate activities since it might make them vulnerable to losing their tax-exempt status. An example of an issue-related activity the Catholic Church is legally able to support is the August, 2022 proposed amendment for an abortion ban in Kansas city. Of the $1.2 million raised in 2021 by the anti-abortion "Value Them Both Coalition," $500,000 was given by the Archdiocese of Kansas City and $250,000 was donated by the Catholic Diocese of Wichita, far higher amounts than other individual donations. This restriction does not apply to individuals or group provided they do not represent themselves as acting in an official Church capacity.

Every four years, the USCCB produces "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" (formerly "Faithful Citizenship") guides, to provide guidelines and explanations of Catholic teaching to Catholic voters. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, "the separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, between moral principles and political choices, but protects the right of believers and religious groups to practice their faith and act on their values in public life."

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Religious syncretism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism

Religious syncretism is the blending of religious belief systems into a new system, or the incorporation of other beliefs into a religious tradition.

This can occur for many reasons, where religious traditions exist in proximity to each other, or when a culture is conquered and the conquerors bring their religious beliefs with them, but do not succeed in eradicating older beliefs and practices.

Many religions have syncretic elements, but adherents often frown upon the application of the label, especially those who belong to "revealed" religions, such as Abrahamic religions, or any system with an exclusivist approach, seeing syncretism as corrupting the original religion. Non-exclusivist systems of belief on the other hand feel freer to incorporate other traditions into their own.

Ancient history

See also: Ancient Greek religion and Religion in ancient Rome
Further information: Hellenistic religion

Classical Athens was exclusive in matters of religion. Some sources assert that the Decree of Diopeithes made the introduction of and belief in foreign gods a criminal offence, and allowed only Greeks to worship in Athenian temples and festivals as foreigners were considered impure. Other sources dispute the existence of the decree.

Syncretism functioned as a feature of Hellenistic Ancient Greek religion, although only outside of Greece. Overall, Hellenistic culture in the age that followed Alexander the Great itself showed syncretist features, essentially blending of Mesopotamian, Persian, Anatolian, Egyptian (and eventually Etruscan–Roman) elements within a Hellenic formula. The Egyptian god Amun developed as the Hellenized Zeus Ammon after Alexander the Great went into the desert to seek out his oracle at Siwa.

The Romans, identifying themselves as common heirs to a very similar civilization, identified Greek deities with similar figures in the Etruscan-Roman tradition, though usually without copying cult practices. (For details, see Interpretatio graeca.) Syncretic gods of the Hellenistic period also found wide favor in Rome: for example, Serapis, Isis and Mithras. Cybele as worshipped in Rome essentially represented a syncretic East Mediterranean goddess. The Romans imported the Greek god Dionysus into Rome, where he merged with the Latin mead god Liber, and converted the Anatolian Sabazios into the Roman Sabazius.

The degree of correspondence varied: Jupiter makes perhaps a better match for Zeus than the rural huntress Diana does for the feared Artemis. Ares does not quite match Mars. The Romans physically imported the Anatolian goddess Cybele into Rome from her Anatolian cult-center Pessinos in the form of her original aniconic archaic stone idol; they identified her as Magna Mater and gave her a matronly, iconic image developed in Hellenistic Pergamum.

Likewise, when the Romans encountered Celts and Germanic peoples, they mingled these peoples' gods with their own, creating Sulis Minerva, Apollo Sucellos (Apollo the Good Smiter) and Mars Thingsus (Mars of the war-assembly), among many others. In the Germania, the Roman historian Tacitus speaks of Germanic worshippers of Hercules and Mercury; most modern scholars tentatively identify Hercules as Thor and Mercury as Odin.

Romans were familiar with the concept of syncretism because from their earliest times they had experienced it with, among others, the Greeks. The Romans incorporated the originally Greek Apollo and Hercules into their religion. They did not look at the religious aspects that they adopted from other cultures to be different or less meaningful from religious aspects that were Roman in origin. The early Roman acceptance of other cultures religions into their own made it easy for them to integrate the newly encountered religions they found as a result of their expansion.

Early Christianity

Gnosticism is identified as an early form of syncretism that challenged the beliefs of early Christians.[citation needed] Gnostic dualism posited that only spiritual or invisible things were good, and that material or visible things were evil. Orthodox (mainstream) Christians have always insisted that matter is essentially good, since, as they believe, God created all things, both spiritual and material, and said that it was "very good". Simon Magus has been identified as one of the early proponents of Gnosticism.

In the first few centuries after the death of Jesus, there were various competing "Jesus movements". The Roman emperors used syncretism to help unite the expanding empire. Social conversion to Christianity happened all over Europe. It became even more effective when missionaries concurred with established cultural traditions and interlaced them into a fundamentally Christian synthesis. Sometimes old pagan gods—or at least their aspects and roles—were transferred to Christian saints, such as when Demetrius of Thessaloniki inherited the role of patron of agriculture from Demeter and the Eleusinian Mysteries after the latter's demise in the 4th century.

Syncretism is distinguished from assimilation, the latter of which refers to the Church's ability to "incorporate into herself all that is true, good, and beautiful in the world." This idea was present in the early Church; the Second Apology of Justin Martyr states: "Whatever things were rightly said among all men, are the property of us Christians". The Church has assimilated many (though not all) of the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. Augustine of Hippo is remembered for assimilating the ideas of Plato, while Thomas Aquinas is known for doing so with the ideas of Aristotle. In his essay on the development of Christian doctrine, John Henry Newman clarified the idea of assimilation.

Early Judaism

Further information: Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic Judaism, and Christianity and Judaism

In Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud made a case for Judaism arising out of the pre-existing monotheism that was briefly imposed upon Egypt during the rule of Akhenaten. The Code of Hammurabi is also cited as a likely starting point for the Jewish Ten Commandments. Some scholars hold that Judaism refined its concept of monotheism and adopted features such as its eschatology, angelology and demonology through contacts with Zoroastrianism. However, this is highly disputed among scholars.

In spite of the Jewish halakhic prohibitions on polytheism, idolatry, and associated practices (Avodah Zarah), several combinations of Judaism with other religions have sprung up: Messianic Judaism, Jewish Buddhism, Nazarenism and Judeo-Paganism. Several Jewish Messiah claimants (such as Jacob Frank) and the Sabbateans came to mix Kabbalistic Judaism with Christianity and Islam.

Post-classical history

Islam and West Asian religions

Further information: Christian influences on the Islamic world, Din-i Ilahi, and Iranian religions § Medieval period

The Islamic mystical tradition known as Sufism appears somewhat syncretic in nature in its origins, but it is rejected by many other modern scholars. A better explanation is that,

"Oneness of being does not mean that the created universe is God, for God's Being is necessary while the universe's being is merely possible, that is, subject to non-being, beginning, and ending, and it is impossible that one of these two orders of being could in any sense be the other; but rather, the created universe's act of being is derived from and subsumed by the divine act of creation, from which it has no ontic independence and hence is only through the being of its Creator, the one true being. So Wahdat-al-Wujud or Oneness of Being entails that nothing exists except Allah, His attributes, His actions, and His rulings, while created being, as manifest to us, cannot be identified with His entity or attributes but only with His actions and rulings: the world, as it were, is pure act, while Allah is pure Being. In short [Wahdat-al-Wujud] is not pantheism, because the world is not Allah. Spinoza's definition in the Ethica of God as "simple substance" (pantheism properly speaking), has nothing to do with the experience of those who possess ma'rifa [gnosis]. Rather, the world's existence is through Allah, in Arabic bi Llah, the point under the Arabic letter ba' being both a point of ontic connection and a point of demarcation...The matter is between Lord (Rabb), and slave who is through Lord ('abd bi Rabb)".

Mainstream Tasawwuf does not present itself as a separate set of beliefs from the mainstream Sunni tradition; well-established traditions like Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Shadhili, and most others have always been part and parcel of normative Islamic life. No doubt some groups in the name of Sufism, just like in any religion, do espouse theologically unorthodox positions.

During Sufi presence in Bengal, Muslim–Hindu syncretism was a general trend, and Nabibangsha by Syed Sultan is an example of it. The book tells the lineage of the prophets of Islam. Apart from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ, the poet also describes Indian deities such as Brahma, Vishnu, Rama and Krishna.

The Barghawata kingdom of Morocco followed a syncretic religion inspired by Islam (perhaps influenced by Judaism) with elements of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kharijite Islam, mixed with astrological and heathen traditions. Supposedly, they had their own Qur'an in the Berber language comprising 80 suras under the leadership of the second ruler of the dynasty Salih ibn Tarif who had taken part in the Maysara uprising. He proclaimed himself a prophet. He also claimed to be the final Mahdi of Islamic tradition, and that Isa (Jesus) would be his companion and pray behind him.

The Druzes integrated elements of Ismaili Islam with Gnosticism and Platonism. The Druze faith also incorporates some elements of Christianity. Satpanth is considered a syncretism of Ismaili Islam and Hinduism.

South and East Asian religions

Further information: Indian religions, East Asian religions, and Buddhism and Eastern religions
See also: Three teachings, Shinbutsu-shūgō, East Asian Buddhism, and Buddhism by country

Buddhism has syncretized with many traditional beliefs in East Asian societies as it was seen as compatible with local religions. Notable syncretization of Buddhism with local beliefs includes the Three Teachings, or Triple Religion, that harmonizes Mahayana Buddhism with Confucian philosophy and elements of Taoism, and Shinbutsu-shūgō, which is a syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism. The religious beliefs, practices, and identities of East Asians (who comprise the majority of the world's Buddhists by any measure) often blend Buddhism with other traditions including Confucianism, the Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Shinto, Korean shamanism, Vietnamese folk religion. Before and during World War II, a Nichiren Shōshū priest named Jimon Ogasawara proposed the blending of Nichiren Buddhism with Shinto.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism in ancient India have made many adaptations over the millennia, assimilating elements of various religious traditions. One example of this is the Yoga Vasistha.

Akram Vigyan Movement established by Dada Bhagwan is considered to be a Jain-Vaishnava Hindu syncretistic movement.

The Mughal emperor Akbar, who wanted to consolidate the diverse religious communities in his empire, propounded Din-i-Ilahi, a syncretic religion intended to merge the best elements of the religions of his empire, Allopanishad is the example there. Satpanth is considered a syncretism of Ismaili Islam and Hinduism.

Meivazhi is a syncretic monotheistic minority religion based in Tamil Nadu, India. Its focus is spiritual enlightenment and the conquering of death, through the teachings. Mevaizhi preaches the Oneness of essence message of all the previous major scriptures – particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity – allowing membership regardless of creed. Meivazhi's disciples are thousands of people belonging once to 69 different castes of different religions being united as one family of Meivazhi Religion.

In China, most of the population follows syncretist religions combining Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and elements of Confucianism. Out of all Chinese believers, approximately 85.7% adhere to Chinese traditional religion, as many profess to be both Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist at the same time. Many of the pagodas in China are dedicated to both Buddhist and Taoist deities.

Likewise, in Southeast Asia, the local variants of Buddhism have been adapted to accommodate folk beliefs, such as the veneration of nats in Myanmar and phi in Thailand. Tibetan Buddhism is also syncretic in adopting practices from the earlier Bön religion.

The traditional Mun faith of the Lepcha people predates their seventh century conversion to Lamaistic Buddhism. Since that time, the Lepcha have practiced it together with Buddhism. Since the arrival of Christian missionaries in the nineteenth century, Mun traditions have been followed alongside that faith as well. The traditional religion permits the incorporation of Buddha and Jesus Christ as deities, depending on household beliefs.

Modern history

Main article: New religious movements

Christianity

Further information: Syncretistic controversy and Christian new religious movements

One can contrast Christian syncretism with contextualization or inculturation, the practice of making Christianity relevant to a culture: Contextualisation does not address the doctrine but affects a change in the styles or expression of worship. Although Christians often took their European music and building styles into churches in other parts of the world, in a contextualization approach, they would build churches, sing songs, and pray in a local ethnic style. Some Jesuit missionaries adapted local systems and images to teach Christianity, as did the Portuguese in China, the practice of which was opposed by the Dominicans, leading to the Chinese rites controversy.

Protestant Reformation

Syncretism did not play a role when Christianity split into eastern and western rites during the Great Schism. It became involved, however, with the rifts of the Protestant Reformation, with Desiderius Erasmus's readings of Plutarch. Even earlier, syncretism was a fundamental aspect of the efforts of Neoplatonists such as Marsilio Ficino to reform the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1615, David Pareus of Heidelberg urged Christians to a "pious syncretism" in opposing the Antichrist, but few 17th-century Protestants discussed the compromises that might effect a reconciliation with the Catholic Church: Johann Hülsemann, Johann Georg Dorsche, and Abraham Calovius (1612–85) opposed the Lutheran Georg Calisen "Calixtus" (1586–1656) of the University of Helmstedt for his "syncretism". (See: Syncretistic controversy.)

New World

Further information: Afro-American religion
 
Santa Muerte statues alongside other items of Mexican veneration (Jesus, Mary) on sale at a shop on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.

Catholicism in Central and South America has been integrated with a number of elements derived from indigenous and slave cultures in those areas (see the Caribbean and modern sections); while many African Initiated Churches demonstrate an integration of Protestant and traditional African beliefs. The Catholic Church allows some symbols and traditions to be carried over from older belief systems, so long as they are remade to conform (rather than conflict) with a Christian worldview; syncretism of other religions with the Catholic faith, such as Voudun or Santería, is expressly condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the subsequent devotion to her are seen as assimilating some elements of native Mexican culture into Christianity. Santa Muerte, a female deity of death, has also emerged as the combination of the indigenous goddess Mictecacihuatl and the Lady of Guadalupe. As of 2012, Santa Muerte is worshipped by approximately 5% of the Mexican population, and also has a following in the United States and parts of Central America.

Some Andean areas, such as in Peru, have a strong influence of Inca-originated Quechua culture into Catholicism. This often results in Catholic holy days and festivities featuring Quechua dances or figures, such as the Assumption of Mary celebration in Chinchaypujio, or the fertility celebrations for Pachamama in the mostly Catholic Callalli.

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod experienced controversy for disciplining pastors for unionism and syncretism when they participated in multi-faith services in response to the 9/11 attacks and to the shootings at Newtown, Connecticut, on the grounds that joint worship with other Christian denominations or other religious faiths implied that differences between religions are not important.

In the Latter Day Saint movement, doctrine from previous dispensations as recorded in the LDS canon are considered official, though it is accepted that ancient teachings can be warped, misunderstood, or lost as a result of apostasy. While it does not officially recognize doctrine from other religions, it is believed that truth in other sources can be identified via personal revelation.

The Lacandon people of Central America acknowledge Äkyantho', the god of foreigners. He has a son named Hesuklistos (Jesus Christ) who is supposed to be the god of the foreigners. They recognize that Hesuklistos is a god but do not feel he is worthy of worship as he is a minor god.

East Asia

Catholicism in South Korea has been syncretized with traditional Mahayana Buddhist and Confucian customs that form an integral part of traditional Korean culture. As a result, South Korean Catholics continue to practice a modified form of ancestral rites and observe many Buddhist and Confucian customs and philosophies. In Asia the revolutionary movements of Taiping (19th-century China) and God's Army (Karen in the 1990s) blended Christianity with traditional beliefs.

Mongolia

Khotons follow a syncretic form of Islam that incorporates Buddhist and traditional elements (like Tengrism).

Spain

Church of Saint Eulalia in Palma de Mallorca, centers of Xueta religious ritual life.

Xueta Christianity is a syncretic religion on the island of Majorca, Spain followed by the Xueta people, who are supposedly descendants of persecuted Jews who were converts to Christianity. Traditionally, The church of Saint Eulalia and the church of Montesión (Mount Zion) in Palma de Mallorca have been used by the families of Jewish converts (Xuetas), and both are the centers of Xueta religious ritual life. The Palma's Mont Zion Church was once the main synagogue of Palma de Mallorca. Is estimated that there are roughly 20,000 Chuetas living on the island of Majorca today, and they practiced strict endogamy by marrying only within their own group.

Italy

In Italy, especially within the Mezzogiorno, there is a syncretic Folk Catholic tradition known as Benedicaria. The origins of Benedicaria are not well known however, it could have potentially risen from the mixture between the forms of Roman Catholicism practiced by the common people and ancient Italian folk practices. Despite it being separated from mainstream Catholicism, followers still consider themselves to be devout Catholics.

Hinduism and Islam

Punjab

Census reports taken in Punjab Province during the colonial era (British India) noted and documented various practices highlighting religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims, Punjabi Hindus, and Meo Muslims.

"In other parts of the Province, too, traces of Hindu festivals are noticeable among the Muhammadans. In the western Punjab, Baisakhi, the new year's day of the Hindus, is celebrated as an agricultural festival, by all Muhammadans, by racing bullocks yoked to the well gear, with the beat of tom-toms, and large crowds gather to witness the show, The race is called Baisakhi and is a favourite pastime in the well-irrigated tracts. Then the processions of Tazias, in Muharram, with the accompaniment of tom-toms, fencing parties and bands playing on flutes and other musical instruments (which is disapproved by the orthodox Muhammadans) and the establishment of Sabils (shelters where water and sharbat are served out) are clearly influenced by similar practices at Hindu festivals, while the illuminations on occasions like the Chiraghan fair of Shalamar (Lahore) are no doubt practices answering to the holiday-making instinct of the converted Hindus."

"Besides actual conversion, Islam has had a considerable influence on the Hindu religion. The sects of reformers based on a revolt from the orthodoxy of Varnashrama Dharma were obviously the outcome of the knowledge that a different religion could produce equally pious and right thinking men. Laxity in social restrictions also appeared simultaneously in various degrees and certain customs were assimilated to those of the Muhammadans. On the other hand the miraculous powers of Muhammadan saints were enough to attract the saint worshiping Hindus, to allegiance, if not to a total change of faith... The Shamsis are believers in Shah Shamas Tabrez of Multan, and follow the Imam, for the time being, of the Ismailia sect of Shias... they belong mostly to the Sunar caste and their connection with the sect is kept a secret, like Freemasonry. They pass as ordinary Hindus, but their devotion to the Imam is very strong."

"The Meos (Muhammadans) of the eastern Punjab still participate in the observance of the Holi and Diwali festivals. On the latter occasion they paint the horns, hoofs, etc.,of their bullocks and join in the general rejoicings".

— Excerpts from the Census of India (Punjab Province), 1911 AD

Bengal

Further information: Bonbibi and Baul

Similar to that of Punjab, census reports conducted in British India highlighted syncretic practices among Bengali Hindus and Muslims.

"That both were originally of the same race seems sufficiently clear, not only from comparisons to physical characteristics, but from the similarity of their language, manners and customs. The Bengali Musalman is still in many respects a Hindu. Caste distinction, one of the main objects of which would seem to be to prescribe the limits of the jus connubii, are to a certain extent as prevalent and as fully recognised among the Mohammedans of Bengal,as among Hindus. As Buchanan pointed out sixty years ago, they not unfrequently meet at the same shrine, both invoking the same object of worship though perhaps under different names. Instead of commending a letter "In the name of God" (which is the orthodox fashion), the Bengali Musalman will superscribe the name of some Hindu deity. He speaks the same language, and uses precisely the same nomenclature and the same expressions of thought as his Hindu neighbor. Their very names are identical, the prefix of Shaikh alone distinguishing the convert to Islam."

— Excerpts from "The Census of Bengal", 1874 AD, Page 87

In the Sundarbans (spread across Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh), it is noted that Bonbibi, a guardian spirit of the forests is venerated by Hindus and Muslim residents alike. In most of the shrines of Banbibi in the Sundarbans, Banbibi is most commonly worshipped along with her brother Shah Jangali and Dakkhin Rai.

Bauls are a group of mynstric minstrels who put emphasis on their mystical elements with the tradition of music. Baul tradition is essentially an amalgamation of Vaishnavism and Sufism. Baul has had a considerable effect on Bengali culture. Baul traditions are included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Baháʼí Faith

Further information: Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion

The Baháʼís follow Bahá'u'lláh, a prophet whom they consider a successor to Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Krishna and Abraham. This acceptance of other religious founders has encouraged some to regard the Baháʼí religion as a syncretic faith. However, Baháʼís and the Baháʼí literature explicitly reject this view. Baháʼís consider Bahá'u'lláh's revelation an independent, though related, revelation from God. Its relationship to previous dispensations is seen as analogous to the relationship of Christianity to Judaism. They regard beliefs held in common as evidence of truth, progressively revealed by God throughout human history, and culminating in (at present) the Baháʼí revelation. Baháʼís have their own sacred scripture, interpretations, laws and practices that, for Baháʼís, supersede those of other faiths.

Caribbean and Afro-American

Vodou altar celebrating Papa Guédé in Boston, Massachusetts, featuring offerings to Rada spirits, the Petwo family, and the Gede. In the center is a golden monstrance.

The process of syncretism in the Caribbean region often forms a part of cultural creolization. (The technical term "Creole" may apply to anyone born and raised in the region, regardless of race.) The shared histories of the Caribbean islands include long periods of European Imperialism (mainly by Spain, France, and Great Britain) and the importation of African slaves (primarily from Central and Western Africa). The influences of each of the above interacted in varying degrees on the islands, producing the fabric of society that exists today in the Caribbean.

The Rastafari movement, founded in Jamaica, syncretizes vigorously, mixing elements from the Bible, Marcus Garvey's Pan-Africanism movement, a text from the European grimoire tradition, the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, Hinduism, and Caribbean culture.

Another highly syncretic religion of the area, vodou, combines elements of Western African, native Caribbean, and Christian (especially Roman Catholic) beliefs.

Recently developed religious systems that exhibit marked syncretism include the African diasporic religions Candomblé, Vodou and Santería, which analogize various Yorùbá and other African deities to the Roman Catholic saints. Some sects of Candomblé have also incorporated Native American deities, and Umbanda combined African deities with Kardecist spiritualism.

Hoodoo is a similarly derived form of folk magic practiced by some African American communities in the Southern United States. Other traditions of syncretic folk religion in North America include Louisiana Voodoo as well as Pennsylvania Dutch Pow-wow, in which practitioners invoke power through the Christian God.

Other

Main article: List of new religious movements

Omnism is the belief in all religions with their gods.

Many historical Native American religious movements have incorporated Christian European influence, like the Native American Church, that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. Further examples in North America are the Ghost Dance, and the religion of Handsome Lake.

Santo Daime is a syncretic religion founded in Brazil that incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions including Folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, African animism and indigenous South American shamanism, including vegetalismo.

Unitarian Universalism also provides an example of a modern syncretic religion. It traces its roots to Universalist and Unitarian Christian congregations. However, modern Unitarian Universalism freely incorporates elements from other religious and non-religious traditions, so that it no longer identifies as "Christian."

The Theosophical Society professes to go beyond being a syncretic movement that combines deities into an elaborate Spiritual Hierarchy, and assembles evidence that points to an underlying (or occult) reality of Being that is universal and interconnected, common to all spirit-matter dualities. It is maintained that this is the source of religious belief, each religion simply casting that one reality through the prism of that particular time and in a way that is meaningful to their circumstances.

Universal Sufism seeks the unity of all people and religions. Universal Sufis strive to "realize and spread the knowledge of Unity, the religion of Love, and Wisdom, so that the biases and prejudices of faiths and beliefs may, of themselves, fall away, the human heart overflow with love, and all hatred caused by distinctions and differences be rooted out."

Cao Dai Temple: On top is Buddha, on his right Lao Tzu, on his left Confucius. Under Buddha is Li Bai. On Li Bai's right is the female Boddhisattva Guanyin, on his left is the red-faced warrior Guan Gong. Below Li Bai is Jesus, and below Jesus is Jiang Ziya.

In Vietnam, Caodaism blends elements of Buddhism, Catholicism and Taoism.

Several Japanese new religions, such as Konkokyo and Seicho-No-Ie, are syncretistic.

The Nigerian religion Chrislam combines Christian and Islamic doctrines.

In West-Central Africa, modern Bwiti incorporates animism, ancestor worship, ritual use of iboga, and Christianity into a syncretistic belief system.

Thelema is a mixture of many different schools of belief and practice, including Hermeticism, Eastern Mysticism, Yoga, 19th century libertarian philosophies (i.e. Nietzsche), occultism, and the Kabbalah, as well as ancient Egyptian and Greek religion.

Examples of strongly syncretist Romantic and modern movements with some religious elements include mysticism, occultism, Theosophical Society, modern astrology, Neopaganism, and the New Age movement.

In Réunion, the Malbars practice at same time Hinduism and Christianity. but separately, not mixed (this is called "dual religious practice" in French "double pratique religieuse") but it's not considered as syncretism

The Unification Church, founded by religious leader Sun Myung Moon in South Korea in 1954. Its teachings are based on the Bible, but include new interpretations not found in mainstream Judaism and Christianity and incorporates East Asian traditions.

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