Tolerancia religiosa en el republicanismo. El caso de Carlos E. Restrepo

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper depicts, in broad terms, the ideology on religious tolerance that the political movement called Republicanism had in the early 20th century in Colombia. In particular, it focuses on the writings of former President Carlos Eugenio Restrepo. The text summarizes the difficulties of this leader born in Antioquia to segregate religious diatribes from the political exercise, its struggle for non-Catholic people to be accepted within the Republican Union, the support that gave the Protestant missionaries who arrived in Medellin and, in general, his openness to other religious ideas different to the ones from Roman Catholicism. The text states that the relationship between conservatism and the Catholic Church (conservatives politically allied with the clerics) does not have a single color, and that it is needed to expand the analysis scale to the point of personal relationships in order to perceive certain nuances.

RESUMEN: Este escrito presenta, a grandes rasgos, la ideología que en materia de tolerancia religiosa tenía el movimiento político denominado republicanismo a principios del siglo XX en Colombia. De manera especial, se concentra en los escritos del expresidente Carlos Eugenio Restrepo. En el texto se resumen las dificultades de este líder antioqueño por separar del ejercicio político las diatribas religiosas, su lucha por que fueran aceptadas personas no católicas dentro de la Unión Republicana, el apoyo que le dio a los misioneros protestantes que llegaron a Medellín, y en general, su apertura a otras ideas religiosas diferentes al catolicismo romano. El texto plantea que la relación conservatismo-Iglesia católica no tiene un solo color (los conservadores aliados políticamente con los clérigos), y que es necesario ampliar la escala de análisis hasta el punto de las relaciones personales para percibir ciertos matices.