Confessional exception articles in the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation

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The establishment of new dioceses in Switzerland was practically impossible for a long time.

The confessional exception articles in the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation , denominational exception articles or just exception articles for short, were a series of former articles in the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation . The articles restricted the freedom of religion and conscience unilaterally by explicitly denying certain rights to certain regional churches - especially the Roman Catholic churches.

origin

The exceptional articles had their origin in the Kulturkampf of the 19th century. At that time the liberal forces fought with the Catholic-conservatives for state power. This initially led to the Sonderbund War , which resulted in the first Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848. This contained an article that forbade the Jesuits and their "affiliated societies" to do anything in state and church. In Germany, too, the order was banned from 1872 to 1917 ( Jesuit law ). Similar Jesuit bans had already been introduced in various other European countries.

The Kulturkampf did not end with the Federal Constitution of 1848, but broke out again in the 1870s when the Federal Council and the Church fought over the division of the Swiss dioceses and the Catholic Church's claims to power.

Constitution of 1874

The second Swiss constitution of 1874, which was introduced by a referendum, granted religious freedom on a large scale for the first time . But it also took up articles that were anti-cultural, that is, against the Catholic Church. The proponents of these articles saw them as measures to protect religious peace, but the majority of Swiss Catholics saw them as discrimination .

Article 50 old BV, Article 72 new BV

Article 50, introduced in 1874, was a direct result of the previous conflict between the Swiss Federal Council and the Pope and several influential clergy (see Kulturkampf in Switzerland ). In paragraph 4, it prohibited the establishment of dioceses on the territory of the Swiss Confederation without the express consent of the Confederation. In 1962 Alfred Ackermann submitted a motion that the diocese article should be deleted. However, he was unsuccessful.

In 1999, against the resistance of the Catholic Church, the regulation was included in the new federal constitution as Article 72 paragraph 3. It was not until the referendum of June 10, 2001 that the paragraph was deleted without replacement as the last confessional exception article.

In the referendum of November 29, 2009, a new exceptional article was added to the federal constitution as a result of the Swiss minaret dispute. The new article 72, paragraph 3 prohibits the construction of minarets in Switzerland.

Articles 51 and 52 old BV (Jesuit articles)

Articles 51 and 52 of the Federal Constitution of 1874 prohibited the Jesuit order and the establishment or re-establishment of monasteries in general . These were also known as Jesuit articles.

As early as 1919, the Catholic-Conservative National Councilor Jean-Marie Musy demanded the repeal of these articles in a motion. This was delayed until 1947 and finally written off. After 1950, however, a rethink began, and now non-Catholic constitutional law experts such as Werner Kägi or François Aubert also judged the articles as “untenable” and “discriminatory”. In practice, the articles were interpreted more and more liberally, so that priories were tolerated. Ludwig von Moos submitted a motion in 1954, according to which these two articles should be deleted without replacement. In the referendum of May 20, 1973, the federal decree on the repeal of the Jesuit and monastery articles of the federal constitution was adopted and these articles were thus deleted from the constitution.

Article 75 old BV

Article 75 of the Federal Constitution of 1874 stated:

"Every Swiss citizen of secular class who is entitled to vote is eligible to vote as a member of the National Council."

- Art 75 BV of 1874

This meant that clergymen from all churches, in this case also from the Reformed regional church, were excluded from election to the National Council . Since, according to Article 96, only those who have the right to stand as candidates for the National Council are eligible for election to the Federal Council , no clergyman could be elected to the state government. An election to the Council of States was basically possible, since the right to vote for the Council of States is a matter for the respective cantons.

Article 75 was no longer included in the new drafting of the Federal Constitution in 1999 and was tacitly abolished.

today

The exceptional articles that were introduced as a result of the Kulturkampf have now all been abolished. With the introduction of the minaret article in 2009 , however, a new culture war is on the horizon, this time between the “Christian Occident” and Islam .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Confessional exception articles , see web link
  2. ^ Guggisberg 1956
  3. ↑ Swiss Federal Chancellery: referendum of May 20, 1973