THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tain independence under the law, stand those great religious communities called churches. Legally they occupy a very high position; and the reason for this is clear. Their functions are not merely of a private nature; from time immemorial the interests of the Church have been regarded as national and ethically coequal with the affairs of the State itself. In a word, religion is a matter of public interest, and is recognized as such by the State. To be sure, the Church is subject to the State; otherwise the sovereignty of the State would be a fiction. On the other hand, the modern German state waives its right to take the Church so closely imder its control as did the old policestate. In fact, the constitutional state regards it as essential that the independence of the Church be maintained. This principle has been often proclaimed, e.g., in the Frankfort Grundrechte and in the Prussian Constitution. Thus the Church is quite properly given the position of a separate community, existing imder the State and working for the public weal. The legal terminology employed to characterize this relation of Church to State recognizes self-government as the essential feature. The French law, which has become typical, speaks of cultes reconnus, not as a juristic person, but as a part of the public authority, and calls the local organizations (tablissements publiques, analogous to political commimities. Hence the protection and aid rendered to the Church by the civil government.
While theoretically the State may subordinate the Church completely to itself, in practise it does
not do it. The degree of authority 6. Relations exercised varies, as does also the with Rome, degree of independence enjoyed by
the Church. In view of the fundamental conception of the State, the Roman Catholic Church is given too much latitude in Germany and the Protestant Church too little. In reality, the Roman Catholic Church is not simply a selfgoverning state church, holding itself subject to the State. It remains that same remarkable worldpower which in the Middle Ages shared with the State the functions of government. If the power of Rome has been greatly diminished in the modern State, this has been accomplished only by force. In principle, the Roman Church has yielded nothing. The manner in which the present organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany came into being is characteristic. The German states entered into agreements with the Holy See just as they would make treaties among themselves regarding secular things (see Concordats and Delimitino Bulls). France led the way in the Napoleonic Concordat. The necessity of restoring the lost equilibrium at once manifested itself, and, too, in a curious manner. All the states, on their own initiative, proceeded to supplement the treaty with Rome by promulgating laws to give them a certain supervision over the Roman Catholic Church. Here the articles organiques furnished the model. Of course, such restrictions have never been recognized by the pope; and the fact that they are directed against him only serves to emphasize his position as a temporal ruler. In following such a course, the State puts itself in the
position it occupied during the Middle Ages, when it sought to assert its authority against Rome by means of the now obsolete placetum regium, recursus ab abusu, nominalio regia, and by the exclusion of personw minus grata: (see Placet; Nominatio Regia). That the State is unable to substitute for these ancient institutions something more in accord with present political ideals and conditions can be due only to a lack of confidence in its own sovereignty. The inner contradiction between the theory and practise of the State in the matter of exercising its authority toward the Roman Catholic Church is strikingly shown in cases where the pope is actually invoked to curb some Romanist official who is attacking state institutions. Thus, through the force of tradition, the modem German state has been placed in this false and extremely objectionable attitude toward Rome.
Quite different in this regard is the position of the Evangelical Church. In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, which claims such a 7. The large interest in the control of external Evangelical affairs, the Protestant body, whose State interests are spiritual rather than
Church, temporal, would be satisfied to occupy the modest position of a self-governing body within the State. As a matter of fact, however, the Evangelical Church in Germany has never attained to that measure of freedom and independence which the constitutional state recognizes to be its right. Despite all the -assurances on the side of the government, the old territorial system, the administration of church affairs by the State, continues to thrive. It is futile to assert that it is not the State, but the sovereign in person, who rules the Church; for, in public affairs, the person of the ruler can not be separated from the State. In Germany it seems to be taken as a matter of course that the Evangelical Church ought to be, and must be, ruled by the State. Of course, the Church enjoys a certain academic freedom; also the provision is maintained that the State shall exercise its rule here through separate authorities. It was a further step in this direction when the present synodal system was introduced in the last century. The local parishes have their administrative boards, and send their representatives, clergy and laymen, to the Synod. The General Synod, the highest representative body, cooperates with the sovereign in the matter of ecclesiastical legislation. The logical outcome of this process of development should have been complete self-government for the Church; but such has not been the case. Indeed, this entire movement is only a phase of that more general movement whose object has been to develop and strengthen the State. The Church is organized along parallel lines with the State, and church administration remains state administration. Just as in things temporal the sovereign remains supreme, despite local self-government and popular representation, so in things ecclesiastical.
The present relation between the State and the Roman Catholic Church is recognized as unsatisfactory, and on both sides there has been a tendency to change it. To be mentioned particularly is that significant modern movement on the