The Evolution of Religious Beliefs in a Constitutional Text

Alfredo Quispe Correa* I. INTRODUCTION Imagine yourself in Peru before it was conquered by Spain. Peru is a vast empire, professing a religion that revolves around nature and totemic cults. The ancient Peruvians worship the sun,1 the moon,2 ferocious animals,3 natural phenomena,4 and the dead.5 It is a magical world; its existence can be explained through sorcery, human sacrifices, and mysteries.6This is the world that the brave Spanish adventurers who have come to take possession of these lands find in the 16th century.7 Spain, on the contrary, is a nation entirely identified with the Catholic religion. It organizes crusades to impose its creed and raise the cross as a symbol of conquering in the name of God, single and true.8 Arriving in Peru, the two cultures collide, two worlds of different beliefs. The stronger of the two, with its weapons and military tactics, inevitably prevails. Spain dominates an already divided Incan Empire; Peru's mighty kingdoms are subdued.9 The culture brought by the Spaniards was founded on Catholicism. It was imposed upon the Incas by various methods with the purpose of eradicating the idolatry of the Quechuas, Aimaraes, and Chancas empires that accepted the coexistence of lesser gods alongside their official gods. Christian culture was thus spread during the Colonial era. This Catholic influence was maintained with the birth of the Republic.10 The Independence of 1821 signified the affirmation of a political model taken from the French and the American Revolutions.11 Yet this liberal model, for imported ideas are liberal, had a limitation when it attempted to undertake freedoms of belief, of opinion, or ideas. Early constitutions identified only a single religion-Roman Catholicism-the so-called national religion, excluding all the rest.12 The Constitution of 1812, that some Peruvian authors hold to be the original constitution, provides a prime example of religious rights in Peru that stemmed from a blend of French/American liberalism and the heavy Catholic influence of the time. It established in Article 12: "The religion of the Spanish nation is and will be perpetually the Roman Catholic Apostolic, only true, religion. The Nation shall protect it through its wise and just laws, and shall prohibit the exercise of any other.13 This Constitution, known as the Constitution of Cadiz, was a monarchial constitution intended to thwart the independence of those people who were subject to the Crown. The Crown had a considerable advantage during the formation and passage of the Constitution: there were forty-nine representatives from the Colonies who recognized the Spanish Monarchy compared to only nine Peruvians. Yet this attempt to keep the Colonies under the aegis of the Crown came late, and the process of liberating the indigenous peoples was already underway. During this same period, liberalism spread throughout the world, inevitably arriving in Peru. Peru instituted an independence with a unique liberalism, outlining religious freedom in its application and limiting the exercise of Catholicism.l4 This limitation encompassed all of the nineteenth century and has extended into the present century making religious liberties, proposed by its forerunners, a reality. It should be pointed out, as a brief aside, that liberalism as a political, economic, and social system was difficult to apply in the Latin American countries-especially Peru. The existence of a middle class, semifeudal land ownership, religious limitations, control of the economy, the high percentage of illiteracy, and many other factors reduced the attractive liberal ideals to mere illusions. Today, however, these ideals are becoming reality, like a dream that is coming true decades late. This Article will not address the causes that prevented liberalism from spreading or establishing itself in Latin American territories sooner. The style of government common in Latin America focused on maintaining the internal situation. …