Laicity and anticlericalism

Abstract

According to the dominant position regarding laicity, the later must be conceived in relation to the recognition of pluralism and taking care not to reproduce anti-religious biases. The article defends an alternative proposal: laicity as anticlericalism, characterized by the establishment of an institutional arrangement that strictly separates and excludes religious contents from State institutions. It argues that this conception of laicity responds adequately to the question regarding the place of religion in the public sphere, in the context of Latin American liberal and democratic States.