O estado laico e a liberdade de culto:discussões a partir das concepções políticas e religiosas em Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

The present study approaches the political and religious conceptions through the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the research is considered from the historical-cultural context of the thinker, having as scene the Enlightenment and the strong influences of the Christian religion in the institutions that compose the State. For the author, religion should not occupy the central role in political activity, porting does not serve to legitimize political power. In the Work of the Social Contract or principles of Political Right (1762), the recognition of the political authority competes only to the general will. However, the writer does not propose the end of religion, in contrast to some illuminists of the eighteenth century. In fact the philosopher presents a civil religion based on the social contract and guided by nature. Hence the need for an education that awakens the sensibility and preparation of man to the natural, as he argues in Emile or on Education (1762). The condemnation of his works announced the winds of change that the French Revolution brought with him eleven years after the death of the Genevan. Thus, the result of this proposal was the defense of the people's sovereignty, as legitimate political authority. This democratic posture of Rousseau made possible respect for political freedom, the secular state and freedom of worship