Conference paper
Catholicism and democracy
Eduard Kale
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The author points to the fact that Christianity and democracy have been the hub of the European cultural heritage. If democracy, keeping with the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration on the rights of man and citizen, is defined as a political system aiming to protect human rights in a society, it can be demonstrated that this goes hand in hand with the social and political keynotes of Catholicism. It is Catholicism that dwells on human free will and the responsibility for choosing between good and evil. It also stresses man's concomitant participation in the activities of secular and religious communities - the state and the Church - which are strictly separated. It ensues that the Church cannot be a partisan of any political party, including those built around Catholics' secular activities. The Church also opposes the reduction of democracy to a mere multiparty power squabbling.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
110502
URI
Publication date:
1.12.1994.
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