The research group “ReDePol” (acronym for “Religion, Law and Politics”) was created as a channel for the dissemination and intercommunication of all research and transfer activities related to the study of the legal regime of the religious factor - understood as an integral element of culture and collective identity - and its political and social consequences.

Despite the traditional difficulties in defining what is religious, it is undeniable that what is religious refers to man’s relationship with transcendence, a relationship that initially involves an act of rational and free acceptance by man, which is the act of faith. Thus the act of faith is the first and fundamental characteristic of the religious fact in today’s societies. Alongside this, religion has other essential components: doctrinal (beliefs), cultural (rituals) and moral (ethical behaviour). If we add to this the fact that the externalisation of human acts is an anthropological necessity, religion acquires a social dimension because it originates precisely in a human act (the act of faith). In other words, man has always proceeded in association for the expression and exercise of his religious feelings. Consequently, the religious phenomenon, which has its origin in an internal act, acquires a social or community dimension, which as such a society needs a juridical order to structure it [Ubi societas, ibi ius]. The juridical relevance of the religious fact is inscribed in its social significance. Religion operates in civil society, relates to other non-religious citizens, is subject to civil authorities... Consequently, the religious phenomenon is of public relevance for state law both in terms of foreseeing the civil consequences of religious behaviour, its relations with other members of the political community outside one’s own religion, or the subjection of confessions or groups of believers to state rules. This legal system is the object of study of the science of State Ecclesiastical Law. However, the religious phenomenon is not exhausted in its legal treatment, but must also be covered by the study of other social and human disciplines (psychology, anthropology, politics, philosophy, education, etc.). 

For this reason, this group was created with the aim of incorporating specialists from these disciplines, in order to complete a vision of the religious phenomenon from a global perspective.

Contributors

• Pedro Carceller Icardo - Universitat de València. 
• José Luis Mayordomo Lledó - Universitat de València. 
• Diego Torres Sospedra - Universitat de València. 

• Legal activities
• Activities of religious organisations
• Activities of political organisations