From tolerance to the secular State in Italy

Abstract

The discourse on tolerance began over two centuries ago and yet is still unfinished. Was Voltaire in 1763 with his “Treatise on Tolerance”, condemned religious intolerance persuaded by religious fanaticism of the judgment of the Court of Toulouse. Although the idea of tolerance was born in Europe, it saw and still sees intolerance. Intolerance of yesterday reminds us wars, inquisitions and crusades, instead the modern Europe shows that even between globalization and multiculturalism often proves incapable of “import” different cultures. But from the legal point of view the term tolerance is far from that of secularism. It follows that individuals in a system that tolerates doesn’t enjoy equality their fundamental rights, because they are not legally placed on the same level. Legal Italian tolerance experience has been for many years a condition for the cults other than Catholic. The Albertine Statute in 1848 welcomed it in the article 1, and it was the task of the new Constitution outlining the principles of a State not only secular but also pluralistic.