Secular State in Colombia: An Unnamed Principle and Right

Abstract

The present article focuses on analyzing the influence of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court in Colombia regarding the consolidation of the secular state and the protection of human rights. In this regard, we will examine how the decisions of the Constitutional Court have contributed to guaranteeing the separation between church and state, promoting religious neutrality in public institutions, and ensuring the free exercise of different beliefs and religious practices. Additionally, we will explore how these judicial decisions have strengthened the protection of human rights, ensuring equality, freedom of conscience, and non-discrimination in the religious sphere. From another perspective, and as an integral part of the development of this article, we will analyze how the tax exemption granted to churches has resulted in a contradiction to the principles of equality and neutrality that the state should uphold concerning religion. The research problem that underlies the respective inquiries and the process of theoretical synthesis can be summarized in two questions: What is the impact of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court on the consolidation of the secular state and the protection of human rights in Colombia? And how has the tax exemption of churches become a historical debt of the secular state in the country? Finally, it was concluded that thanks to the jurisprudential development of the Constitutional Court, there was a crucial impact on the establishment of the Secular State by expanding the interpretation of its elements, scope, and undeniable relationship with Human Rights.