Abstract:
The present research examines how the peace agreements that ended the Thirty
Years’ War (1618-1648) established principles of state sovereignty and confessional
coexistence, impacting the political configuration of Latin America. The research
highlights that these agreements, known as the Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648,
inaugurated a new conception of religious diversity under confessional states, evolving
from the Augsburgian concept of “cuius regio, eius religio” to more complex forms of
interconfessional coexistence. The research work develops a moral epistemology of
religious tolerance, integrating ideas from modern thinkers such as Locke, Voltaire,
and Spinoza with contemporary notions of reflection on moral philosophy, such as
those of Christine Korsgaard on reflective endorsement. The analysis seeks to
demonstrate the gradual influence of Westphalian principles of separation between
religion and politics on Brazilian constitutions and state secularization processes.
Furthermore, the research aims to reveal how Westphalian principles of separation
between religion and politics gradually influenced aspects of modern constitutions with
impacts on Brazilian constitutions and state secularization processes. The concluded
thesis is that religious tolerance constitutes a socially constructed moral epistemology
through public reflective processes, providing foundations for democratic coexistence
in plural societies, with religious tolerance positivized in constitutional texts being the
reflective endorsement as a source of its normativity.
