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The Church-State relationships in EU Member States are in a process of a radical transformation. This is the result of a rapid political integration and also of the major transformations of the modernity. Religion is still part of the European public space even if, according to modernity premises, it should be only a private matter. According to Max Weber and other authors, secularization diminishes the role of the religion in society. However, these theories are being contested in recent years, due to the interpretation of statistical data and to the emergence of fundamentalist religious movements spreading around the world. Consequently, secularization is a tendency and not an "iron law". As regards the current role of the religion, Silvio Ferrari developed the theory according to which there is a common European model. This model does not exist yet, but certainly we live in an era defined by the continuous searching of such a model. There is no European identity without common values. Some of these values, like toleration, do have a profound religious foundation. European integration is based on the action of different actors, including interest groups located in Brussels. The Churches and the religious organizations are also part of this category of actors and they try to be part of a process by which a common space for consultation will emerge.

Wydana w 1779 roku, w Berlinie publikacja Johanna Andreasa Riema (1749-1814) - niemieckiego protestanckiego teologa, duchownego i publicysty okresu oświecenia. Działalność publicystyczna Riema była bardzo zróżnicowana, pisał m.in. prace z zakresu historii, teologii, biblistyki i polityki. Niniejszy dokument - Vertraglichkeit der Religion mit der Politik der Staaten. Nebst dem Entwurf eines Werks: Clima, - Staatsverfassung, - Nationalgeist, - Religion und Wissenschaften; Welches ist ihr wechselseitiges Verhältniss? jest kontynuacją i uzupełnieniem do publikacji Einfluß der Religion auf das Staatssystem der Völker (Berlin, 1778). Riem zainspirowanymi studiami nad polityką i religią zwraca się w publikacji ku przyczynom, które jego zdaniem są odpowiedzialne za różnice w tych dziedzinach oraz ich wzajemnych współzależnościach między różnymi narodami. Dużą część dokumentu zajmuje szkic planowanej, ale nigdy nie opublikowanej pracy, w której chciał pokazać w stylu teorii Monteskiusza (W koncepcji tej Monteskiusz wśród czynników geograficznych warunkujących losy tworów politycznych najważniejsze miejsce, choć, wbrew temu, co nieraz pisano, nie wyłączność przyznawał klimatowi.) wpływ czynników geograficznych (klimatu) na bieg wydarzeń dziejowych, procesy polityczne, różnice w gospodarce państwowej, duchu narodowym, religii i naukach różnych narodów.

Any reflection on the relationship between religion and politics in the Catholic thought cannot do without reminding the Augustinian distinction between the civitas Dei and civitas terrena. The goal and foundation of any just political community should be the orientation to wards the common good. In the contemporary catholic thought, Johann Baptist Metz proposes a political theology revolving around the concepts of the value of the human person, the necessary refusal, on the part of the Church, of any mundane ideology and the necessary use of the socially critical potential of theological thought. Hans Küng criticizes any politicization of theology. He insists on the development of an internal pluralism within the Church and advocates a self-limitation of the magisterial intervention in the world in the name of a necessary "eschato logical reserve". Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict the XVIth , invested with the magisterial authority, relies heavily on official documents of the Catholic social doctrine. He emphasizes the necessity of founding the state on the central value of justice and its acting according to the principle of subsidiarity. In this context, the Christian faith and the Church in particular may have a pedagogical role, as it may guide reason to follow the right priorities. All three thinkers agree on the public significance of the Christian vision of society and on the fact that it may help society both by its critical and by its constructive dimension.