Sacralism

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Sacralism is the idea that church and state are not separate but belong together. In a sacralist system, the ruler’s area also decides the people’s religion, summed up by the saying cuius regio, eius religio (“who has region, decides religion”). Some see sacralism as viewing all relationships through the sacred.

Critics say sacralism uses the “will of God” to justify oppression and violence, and some call it a form of fundamentalism.

Christian sacralism grew from the Constantinian shift in the 4th century, when Constantine allowed Christianity and Theodosius later made it the empire’s official religion. The Constantinian formula merged state power with church power, pressuring non-Christians. Some scholars argue it had pagan roots but was framed with Biblical ideas, such as the notion of two swords—the clergy’s sword of the Spirit and the state’s sword of steel. Christian sacralism gradually declined after the Reformation.

Sacralism appears in places where Islam dominates, mixing religion with politics and law into a single system. In international life, some modern thinkers still use sacralist ideas, arguing that faith shapes knowledge and that certain modern notions arise within a sacred environment.