Science, Catholicism, and the French (Latin) Pattern of Secularization. The Case of Argentina (1820–1958)

Abstract

This article considers the relationships between science and religion (Catholicism) in Argentina from 1820 to mid-20th century as a case of what David Martin has characterized as the French (Latin) pattern of secularization. It examines the role of science and scientific discourse in three episodes in which secularizing measures were discussed and in two cases applied by the state: restrictions to the activities of the regular clergy in 1822; legislation transferring church functions to the state and establishing of non-confessional elementary education in the 1880s; and the attempts in the 1910s at transforming Catholic centers of cult into secular shrines and investing secular images with sacred meanings. The analysis confirms the widely held view that science as such was not the engine of secularization and suggests that it was the pattern of secularization which shaped the relationships between science and religion in a given society.