Religious History of Spain

Spain is a country with a religious history that dates back to the 15th century and beyond. Through a series of tactical moves by the royal families Argon and Castile, the royal crown of Spain became united under a Catholic Monarchy that would rule the ages. However, the transition wasn't easy. The people of the republic rebelled over the control that the church had over individual lives. Spain struggled with separation of church and state, and that struggle has span the centuries.

The Romans

In A.D 62 Paul the Apostle landed in Spain. He brought with him a new religion called Christianity. Since Paul was a Roman citizen, he also influenced the Spaniards tremendously in the way of Roman culture, but with the conscience of a Christian who believed in religious freedoms. He had, after all, been persecuted by the Jewish high priests for heresy and blasphemy. this was the dawning of a new age in Spanish religion. This new religion was very different than the old religious practices of the pagans who had occupied the land for hundreds of years before. They worshiped many different gods, while the Christians worshiped one God and one God only. Paul disputed the pagans who wished to live freely, practicing all sorts of sexual perversions, murders and thefts. Paul taught that Jesus Christ had come to deliver the world from its sins, and that he had paid the ultimate price by dieing on a cross.

The Islamic Rule

Around 711 A.D, the Visigoths who ruled the country of Spain, invited an army of Muslims into the country help protect against the Christian reconquest. This was the beginning of a Muslim habitation of the country that would last until the 15th century. The Muslim rulers did not force Islam on the Christians or Jews at the time, but they did enforce taxation laws that were sometimes hard to overcome. There was really no dominant religion in the country as of yet, at least not until the Catholic Monarchy of the 15th century.

The Marriage of a Monarchy

In 1496 the two royal families Argon and Castile, through a series of intermarriages and careful tactics, arranged the union of Ferdinand of Castile with Isabella of Argon. It was a politically strong union that would be vicariously run by the Catholic Church.

The Two Kingdoms

Even though the two royal families had united their crowns, the kingdoms, Eastern Spain and Western Spain, remained separate and autonomous. There was still a number of Muslims and Jews who lived spread out throughout the two kingdoms. There was also those who may have practiced Christianity, but hated the clerical rule of the the Catholic Church. There was fighting among the aristocrats and the peasants over social issues that were still intertwined with the Catholic Church, and so began the civil wars.

Converts

Late in the 14th century, Conversos (Muslim converts to Christianity) lived the life of mediocrity within Christianity and pointed a judgmental finger at the Jews as being out to annihilate Christianity. The monarchy appointed a Papal Bull, or a church commander, to solve the matter. Later, the Jews were expelled, and, after their involvement, the Conversos were also persecuted.

Agreement

Later on toward the end of the 15th century, religious harmony began to settle in on the Spaniards. The Conversos gained their much wanted positions among society's aristocrats, and, while still prevalent in Spain today, the age of mysticism was introduced. What Jews were left in Spain after the expulsion joined alliances with the Conversos to form an educated society.

The Future

Today, Spain remains religiously diverse. Catholicism is still the most dominant of all. With more than 90 percent of the population identified as Catholic, the diverse religious history still remains, although unnoticed, in the form of artifacts that are just now being uncovered. One thing is for sure, Christianity did reconquer.