The impact of the 1974 revolution on religious freedom in Portugal, 1974-2009

Abstract

Oppression and dictatorship were rife in this traditional Roman Catholic Portuguese state. The Portuguese Empire collapsed and the period immediately after the 1974 Revolution was marked by Communist influence. However, democracy rose with the 1976 Constitution and its subsequent Revisions addressing various aspects of freedom but neglected to address religious freedom. Specific legislation pertaining to freedom of religion was only adopted more than three decades later in 2001. Consequently, the study intended to reveal the status of religious freedom in Portugal as a result of the 1974 Revolution. The hypothesis of this study is that there was resistance to the implementation of religious freedom in Portuguese legislation and society which continued until 2009, the point at which this study ends. Relevant legislation regarding religious freedom was the adoption of the 2001 Religious Freedom Act followed by the signing of the 2004 Concordat. Thus, this important question is relevant, was religious freedom respected in Portugal in 2009? Subsequently, this study tested and proved the hypothesis that religious freedom was not fully applied in Portuguese legislation and society up to the period under study. The adoption of the 2004 Concordat proved that there was still confusion regarding the legal status of religious freedom in the country. The methodology used to collect the data for this study included numerous articles, letters, national and international legislation, anecdotal evidence as well as literature and in-depth interviews to collect oral historical information. This study is located in the theoretical framework of the transformative theory of religious freedom. The thesis revealed that even if the 1974 Revolution brought in freedom of religion the concept still lacks full implementation according to Articles 18, 19, and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).