The article 75 of the

Constitution of Costa Rica The Constitution of Costa Rica is the supreme law of Costa Rica. At the end of the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, José Figueres Ferrer oversaw the Costa Rican Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the document. It was approved on 1949 Novembe ...

establishes

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as the country's state religion making Costa Rica the only state in

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

to do so. Current debate about the issue and the passing toward a full secular state are in the public and political debate. This article is also the only one in the Title VI, only chapter of the Constitution dealing with religion.

Text of the article

English translation according to the site CostaRicanLaw.com:

Controversy

Like other issues as

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

marijuana legalization The legality of cannabis for medical and recreational use varies by country, in terms of its possession, distribution, and cultivation, and (in regards to medical) how it can be consumed and what medical conditions it can be used for. These ...

in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

church-state separation The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

is an issue that often splits

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and progressive voters in Costa Rica. Costa Rica like many

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

countries has three main religious communities; Catholics (52%),

Evangelical Christians Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

(22%) and

non-religious Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...

including

agnostics Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

and

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

(17%). Whilst Catholics are split on the issue, most non-religious citizens support the secular state whilst more Evangelical Christians oppose it (despite the fact that Evangelism is not the official religion and would not be affected for the measure), mostly because they see it as a gradual transition toward

state atheism State atheism is the incorporation of positive atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. It is a form of religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically l ...

. The National Liberation Party, Citizens' Action Party and Broad Front support

whilst the

Social Christian Republican Party The Social Christian Republican Party is a Costa Rican political party founded in 2014 by former president Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier and his group of supporters as a splinter from the historical Social Christian Unity Party The Social Chri ...

Costa Rican Renewal Party The Costa Rican Renewal Party ( es, Partido Renovación Costarricense) is a Christian political party in Costa Rica. History Established in 1995, as a splinter of the National Christian Alliance, the party first participated in national election ...

, National Restoration Party and New Republic Party oppose it. There is a constitutional reform bill under discussion in the Legislative Assembly in parliamentary committees, however as the Evangelical caucuses oppose it its advance have been null.

Public opinion

In 2011, 41% of Costa Ricans were in favor of eliminating article 75 of the Constitution according to a Unimer poll. A National University survey of 2014 showed only 25% of support for such reform. A survey made by the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro M ...

in 2017 found the same results; 25% support. A sociological study made between 2013 and 2014 showed that most practicing Catholics support a secular state as they consider that the economic bond between church and state functions as a "gag" on the Church and support the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

, a position also held by most non-practicing Catholics. Non-religious people vastly support secularism and argue that no church should receive state funding. Neo-Pentecostals on the other hand fiercely oppose laicism as they see the secular state as

, and consider that the current status of a

confessional state A confessional state is a state which officially recognises and practices a particular religion, usually accompanied by a public cultus, and at least encourages its citizens to do likewise. Over human history, many states have been confessiona ...

also protects the Evangelical Churches. Historical protestants on the other hand tend to understand better the difference between

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

and atheism and some support the secular state. However, a large number of these non-Neo-Pentecostal Protestants argue that all churches should receive state funding and that Costa Rica's official religion should be

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and not

in particular. Finally, religious minorities such as

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, Baháʼís,

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

, Tibetan and Nichiren Buddhists,

Taoists Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao ...

New Agers New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

and

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

overwhelmingly support a secular state and laicism, and consider that no religion should receive state funding.

Notes

References

{{Constitutions of Costa Rica Religion in Costa Rica Constitutions of Costa Rica