The Colombian Experience in the Area of Protection of the Freedom of Religion

I. INTRODUCTION From its beginnings as a republic, Colombia is a country that has been extensively and productively engaged in matters of public international law. As a result, Colombia is a member of several international organizations and a high-level contracting party to several bilateral treaties and otiier important multilateral treaties and declarations. Some of these international instruments are specifically related to human rights. However, this long international legal tradition stands in contrast to the precarious internal situation regarding areas of protection, defense, promotion, and the spreading of human rights in Colombia. Although die fundamental right of freedom of religion belongs to die realm of human rights, the affectation that some tolerate is equally worrisome. I elaborated on the seriousness of this statement during the workshops of the 15th Annual BYU International Law & Religion Symposium in 2008. II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN COLOMBIA From 1811 until the present day, Colombia has had several provincial constitutions and nearly a dozen national constitutions.1 In the vast majority of these documents, the issue of religious freedom has been regarded as an issue of freedom of worship, and has almost always been regulated through the concept of religious tolerance. Nevertheless, in the eyes of most treatise writers, Colombia has not had an authentic and effective freedom of religion, especially when taking into account that Colombia has traditionally been a religious state. This opinion is most likely a response by treatise writers to a constitutional amendment in 1957 that sought to unify Colombians under a banner of Catholicism after years of military dictatorship.2 In the following sections, I discuss how Colombia has recognized religious freedom throughout its history and how the 1957 amendment was the exception to the constitutional stance regarding freedom of religion. A. The Early Constitutions: 1811-1863 While the earliest Colombian constitutions practically (if not officially) recognized the Catholic Church as the religion of the state, religious tolerance also became a standard part of domestic policy. The first Political Constitution of the Colombian Republic was adopted in 1821 when Colombia became its own republic.3 Although the founding document acknowledged that Catholicism "is and will be the state religion,"4 religious tolerance existed during this important period.5 This tolerance persisted throughout the early years of Colombia's history. Years later, religious tolerance was reaffirmed under the Constitution of 1832, despite die fact that the government considered it one of its strict duties, "to protect the holy Catholic religion."6 Catholicism continued to play a very significant role in both governmental policy and in the lives of most Colombians at that time, but tolerance of other religions did exist.7 After this early period, Colombia endured years of war and internal conflict that resulted in a new constitution that limited religious tolerance for a brief period. The Constitution of 1843 was a "conservative" response to the Civil War of 1839^11, in which various provincial leaders tried to overthrow the government on "religious" grounds.8 It gave the central government more power over local leaders and set apart the Catholic Church as the "only [religion] sustained and maintained by the Republic."9 The 1843 Constitution was a brief set-back for religious tolerance advocates, but it only lasted until the fractured liberal party took control of Congress and the Presidency in 1849 and began to effectuate major changes in Colombia. By 1853, the liberal party had introduced significant social and economic changes in Colombia10 through a new constitution. The Federal Constitution of New Granada, promulgated on May 20, 1853, was characterized as having stimulated freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of the press, emancipation of slaves, and the separation of Church and State. …