The Social Contract · Chapter
Civil Religion explained
Rousseau examines the relationship between religion and the state, arguing that while the sovereign has no authority over the afterlife, it must establish a civil profession of faith to ensure citizens love their duties.
What happens
Rousseau examines the relationship between religion and the state, arguing that while the sovereign has no authority over the afterlife, it must establish a civil profession of faith to ensure citizens love their duties. He distinguishes three types of religion: the religion of man (true Christianity), civil religion (national cults), and priestly religion (Roman Christianity). He concludes that a purely civil religion with simple dogmas—belief in a beneficent divinity, the afterlife, the sanctity of the social contract and laws—is necessary for social unity, and that theological intolerance is incompatible with sovereignty.
Themes in this chapter
The Social Contract
Rousseau argues that the sovereign's right over subjects is limited to public expediency, and civil religion is necessary to bind citizens to the social contract and laws.
Sovereignty and Government
The chapter explores how theological intolerance undermines sovereignty, as priests become real masters and kings mere ministers.
Critique of Despotism and Slavery
Rousseau condemns priestly religion as antisocial and criticizes the intolerance that leads to persecution and civil strife.
Decline and Corruption of the State
The introduction of a spiritual kingdom by Jesus is seen as causing internal divisions that trouble Christian peoples, leading to the corruption of political unity.
Characters to notice
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Author and narrator; presents his theory of civil religion and critiques historical and contemporary religious-political systems.
- Caligula
Cited as an example of early reasoning that kings were gods, leading to theocracy.
- Jesus
Mentioned as the founder of a spiritual kingdom that separated theological from political systems, causing internal divisions.
- Moses
Referenced in the context of Hebrew views on the gods of other nations.
- Samuel
Implicitly referenced through the discussion of theocracy and early Israelite governance.
- Henry IV
Mentioned as an example of a prince who embraced Roman religion for political reasons, which Rousseau argues should make honest men leave it.
Key passages
“right which the social compact gives the Sovereign over the subjects does not, we have seen, exceed the limits of public expediency.”
The authority the social contract grants the sovereign over citizens is limited to what is useful for the community.
Rousseau reiterates the bounded nature of sovereign power, setting the stage for his argument about civil religion.
“There is therefore a purely civil profession of faith of which the Sovereign should fix the articles, not exactly as religious dogmas, but as social sentiments without which a man cannot be a good citizen or a faithful subject.”
The sovereign should establish a civil creed consisting of social feelings necessary for good citizenship, not theological doctrines.
This is the core of Rousseau's proposal for a civil religion that promotes civic virtue.
“Those who distinguish civil from theological intolerance are, to my mind, mistaken. The two forms are inseparable.”
Rousseau argues that civil and theological intolerance cannot be separated; they are inherently linked.
He insists that religious intolerance inevitably leads to civil effects, threatening sovereignty.
“Now that there is and can be no longer an exclusive national religion, tolerance should be given to all religions that tolerate others, so long as their dogmas contain nothing contrary to the duties of citizenship.”
Since exclusive national religions are no longer possible, the state should tolerate all religions that are themselves tolerant and do not conflict with civic duties.
Rousseau advocates for religious tolerance within the bounds of citizenship.
“I know of nothing more contrary to the social spirit. We are told that a people of true Christians would form the most perfect society imaginable. I see in this supposition only one great difficulty: that a society of true Christians would not be a society of men.”
Rousseau finds true Christianity antithetical to social cohesion because it focuses on the afterlife, making citizens indifferent to earthly affairs.
He critiques the idea that a purely Christian society could be politically viable.
