SWITZERLAND.
I. The Church Law. II. The Reformed Church.
History (§1).
Present Church Constitution (§ 2).
Intercantonal Arrangements (§ 3).
State of Theology and Religion (§ 4). III. The Catholic Churches.
The Church of Rome (§1).
The Christian Catholic Church (§ 2). IV. The Free Churches of French Switzerland.
Geneva (§ 1).
Vaud (§ 2).
Neuchatel (§ 3).
The censuses ordered by the federal government, 1850-1900, give evidence of the varied and often complicated conditions in the Church as well as in the State of Switzerland. The four divisions tabulated were the Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and " Others not specified "; but distinctions were not clearly drawn, and subdivisions were omitted. It is therefore not evident how many members of the smaller Evangelical denominations were included either in the first or fourth categories; how many Christian Catholics (Old Catholics), in the second or fourth; and how many were included in the fourth because of religious indifference or inadvertently. From a review of the census statistics of Dec. 1, 1900, it appears that the confessional distribution in Switzerland from 1880 to 1900 has undergone little alteration. The Protestants lost eight per cent, the Roman Catholics gained the same ; the Jews increased from two to four per cent of the
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Swete Switzerland
total; those of no denomination fell from four to two per cent. Of a total number of Jews of 12,263, the canton of Zurich had 2,933 and of Basel-Stadt, 1,897. Of the 7,359 non-classified Geneva had 1,928 or over twenty-five per cent of its total. The cantons of Zurich, Bern, Schaffhausen, Vaud, and Neuchatel were (1900) over 80 per cent Protestant; Appenzell-Outer-Rohdes, over 90 per cent. The original cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, the two Unterwalden, Zug, Appenzell-Inner-Rhodes, Ticino, and Valais were over 90 per cent Roman Catholic, with Freiburg at 84.6 per cent. Most closely divided are Graubiinden, Protestant 52 per cent, and Roman Catholic 47 per cent ; Aargau, 55 and 44, respectively; and Geneva, 47 and 51.
I. The Church Law: The federal constitution of May 29, 1874, placed the church conditions of all confessions on a new footing. That of 1848 had guaranteed to all adherents of the Christian confessions unmolested residence and freedom of worship; reserved to the federation and cantons the maintenance of public order and peace among the confessions and civil equality between church-members and citizens; and prohibited the Jesuits and affiliated orders. The constitution of 1874 further guarantees state primary education open to all without restriction of confessional faith or freedom of conscience, both of which are pronounced inviolable within the state. There is to be no coercion of religious affiliation, religious instruction, or of any religious performance, and no penalty on account of religious opinion. Parents or guardians exercise control of the religious instruction of children till the end of the sixteenth year, in the sense of the above-mentioned principles. The exercise of civil and political rights are not to be abridged by any prescriptions or conditions of an ecclesiastical and religious character. Religious beliefs do not exempt one from civic duties. No one is obliged to pay taxes for the special purposes of religious worship of a society to which he does not belong. The application of this fundamental principle in detail is reserved to the federal diet. Freedom of worship is guaranteed within the limits of morality and public order. Full power is secured to the federation and cantons to adopt measures for the maintenance of order and public peace among the adherents of the different religious societies as well as against the invasion of the rights of citizens by church authorities. Questions of public or private rights arising from the formation or separation of religious bodies may, by way of complaint, be submitted to the decision of the proper civic authorities. The erection of dioceses on Swiss territory is subject to the approval of the Federation. The prohibition against the Jesuits may, by act of the Federation, be extended to other religious orders whose activity may be a menace to the State, or disturb the peace of the confessions. The erection of new, or the restoration of abolished, monasteries or religious orders, is not permissible. The disposition of burial places devolves upon the civil authorities, who must see to it that every dead person is suitably buried. The civic authorities are to determine and record the civic status. The right of marriage is under the protection of the Federation, and
must not be restricted either for religious or economic reasons, nor on account of previous conduct. The spiritual jurisdiction is abolished. The carrying-out of these fundamental laws might have had as a result the complete indifference of State to Church and the disappearance of the cantonal state churches; but only a few radical consequences have actually resulted. A reaction in favor of a closer union of Church and State has gradually set in. The articles on the civil status and marriage have been enacted. A statute aiming at the extension of the federal supervision of public schools by the creation of a secretary was voted down in 1882. After much deliberation the constitutional article was amended so that the cantons receive national aid for the primary school system without the sacrifice of independent control. The effect of the operation of the constitution to date may be summed up as follows: (1) All religious-instruction, in or out of school, is facultative. However, in most cantons it is given in the schools, and in many cantons it is imparted by the clergy, especially in the higher grades. (2) The clergy may not serve ex officio as inspectors, presidents, or members of school boards; but they may, nevertheless, be elected, which often happens in the Reformed cantons. (3) It has been questioned whether persons belonging to a religious order, and hence bound by vows other than those to the state authority, may become teachers in public schools; but the Roman Catholic cantons hold to it, and no other decision has been reached by the Federation. (4) Religious jurisdiction, especially official participation of church or priest in legal questions of marriage and paternity is prohibited; the civil marriage is obligatory, and alone legally valid; the civil register must not be conducted by priests; the church ceremony prior to the civil marriage is forbidden under severe penalties. (5) The federal diet has interfered with attempts of the Roman Catholic Church to make changes in the dioceses without reference to the Federation. (6) Ecclesiastical measures (e.g., exclusion from church voting) against those who intentionally disregard church practises like baptism, confirmation, communion, church marriage, or church burial, are not admissible in cantons where the Protestant Church is established.
II. The Reformed Church: In the course of the Reformation the only alternative to the power of the papacy was the State. The resort to this on the part of the adherents of the Evangelical Church was
not opposed by Zwingli and Calvin, who i. History, sought to promote the religious moral
reformation of the whole as politically organized, as well as of individuals. Only the Evangelical adherents belonged to the State in Protestant cantons; the Roman Catholics, in cantons under their control. The former were masters, the latter servants, of their governments. The council of 200 at Zurich ordered the preaching of the Word only, carried out- the Reformation in doctrine and cultus, and organized the synod of clericals in 1528, including the clergy of Glarus until 1630, and those of Thurgau and Rheinthal till 1798. Similar synods were erected in St. Gall with Appenzell, Toggen-
Switzerland