Liberalism And Anticlericalism

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

another liberal demand, as well as equality before the law, with open trials free from influence or interference. To accompany the new franchise system would be upgraded education and economic development to civilise the new nation.
The liberals were not necessarily atheists or even opposed to Christianity all, so why did anti-clericalism become such an integral part of their regime? In France one of the foremost reasons for this was the churches' views with regard to social change. The Catholic Church had always been a great advocate of traditionalism. They looked back to the ancien regime when the church had been all-powerful, and though since 1789 its influence had been in decline, it continued to believe in the rigid class structure which had set them ahead before. It was towards this end - retention, or better, resurrection of the old class structures that the church made their political perspectives clearly right wing, and increased links with the conservatives, thus ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

the church actions themselves which increased the whole fervour of the liberal anti-clerical feeling. The Catholic Church was never one to advocate docility to a threat, and thus during the nineteenth century when the possibility of power loss came, the church responded. Firstly in the mental sphere where the priests' tactics seemed to be to bully the public into obedience rather than foster spiritual devotion. Scathing attacks from the pulpit were launched upon drinking, dancing, failure to observe the Sabbath and of course contraception. People began to feel uncomfortable with church attitudes: many needed to work on Sunday to keep food on the table; others wanted to use contraception ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: