Religious diversity and federalism

Abstract

The idea of federalism was initially a religious one, applying the idea of a covenant to political organisation. It was from this religious understanding that the modern political understanding of federalism emerged. Some of the critical decisions of the founders of the United States of America were those dealing with the question of religious diversity: in addition to religious ideas of governing by covenant, there was a strong element of separation of church and state, so that no denomination would be favoured over another. In other federal systems, federalism has been used to protect religious diversity in a variety of ways. The period since World War II has been marked by the emergence of new forms of federalism, such as the post‐modern confederation. In many cases the constituent states of these confederal arrangements have had dominant or even established religions of their own differing from those of their associates co‐existing under the religiously neutral framework of the confederation. As the relationship between religion and state continues to undergo re‐evaluation, federalism adds to the range of possibilities for accommodating