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Religion and liberty are often thought to be mutual enemies: if religion has a natural ally, it is authoritarianism--not republicanism or democracy. But in this book, Maurizio Viroli, a leading historian of republican political thought, challenges this conventional wisdom. He argues that political emancipation and the defense of political liberty have always required the self-sacrifice of people with religious sentiments and a religious devotion to liberty. This is particularly the case when liberty is threatened by authoritarianism: the staunchest defenders of liberty are those who feel a deeply religious commitment to it. Viroli makes his case by reconstructing, for the first time, the history of the Italian "religion of liberty," covering its entire span but focusing on three key examples of political emancipation: the free republics of the late Middle Ages, the Risorgimento of the nineteenth century, and the antifascist Resistenza of the twentieth century. In each example, Viroli shows, a religious spirit that regarded moral and political liberty as the highest goods of human life was fundamental to establishing and preserving liberty. He also shows that when this religious sentiment has been corrupted or suffocated, Italians have lost their liberty. This book makes a powerful and provocative contribution to today's debates about the compatibility of religion and republicanism.

Religion and state --- Religion and politics --- Liberty --- State and religion --- State, The --- Political science --- Politics, Practical --- Politics and religion --- Religion --- Religions --- History. --- Religious aspects --- Political aspects --- History --- Adolfo Omodeo. --- Alessandro Manzoni. --- Amelia Pincherle Rosselli. --- Benedetto Croce. --- Bruni. --- Calamandrei. --- Camillo Benso. --- Carlo Rosselli. --- Catholic Church. --- Catholicism. --- Catholics. --- Christian conscience. --- Christian faith. --- Christian religion. --- Christianity. --- Christians. --- Cuoco. --- Don Giovanni Minzoni. --- Du Contrat Social. --- Ernesto Rossi. --- Gaetano Salvemini. --- Giuseppe Garibaldi. --- Giuseppe Mazzini. --- God. --- Guicciardini. --- Italian fatherland. --- Italian history. --- Italian liberty. --- Italian military virtue. --- Italy. --- Jean-Jacques Roussea. --- Lauro de Bosis. --- Luigi Settembrini. --- Machiavelli. --- Massimo Mila. --- Nazism. --- Nello Rosselli. --- Palmieri. --- Piero Martinetti. --- Quattrocento political thought. --- Raffaello Lambruschini. --- Risorgimento. --- Salutati. --- Silvio Pellico. --- Storia d'Europa. --- Umberto Ceva. --- Vincenzo Gioberti. --- ancient Christianity. --- antifascists. --- apostles. --- authoritarianism. --- believers. --- charity. --- civic duty. --- civic humanists. --- civil religion. --- civil religiosity. --- communes. --- customs. --- divine wisdom. --- duty. --- faith. --- fascism. --- fascist religion. --- heaven. --- hell. --- inner liberty. --- late medieval Europe. --- liberty. --- lived liberty. --- martyrs. --- monarchical religion. --- monarchy. --- moral conscience. --- moral liberty. --- national unification. --- new religion. --- patron saints. --- political emancipation. --- political liberty. --- political writers. --- poverty. --- public good. --- religion. --- religious faith. --- religious hymns. --- religious movements. --- religious music. --- religious reform. --- religious ritual. --- religious spirit. --- republican government. --- republican liberty. --- republican principles. --- republican religion. --- republicanism. --- sacred law. --- totalitarian religion. --- totalitarianism.