Mexico 1810-2010. Identity and nation building through secularism

Abstract

In this Bicentennial year, to reflect on the process of building the Mexican state is doing
on the components of their national identity. In this context, the religious question is,
presented as a relevant explanatory factor. In its base, state nationalism found in the
ecclesiastical institution a major obstacle. Especially because it had established itself
as a community trans-historical, essential, beyond and outside of politics. A pole of
strength capable of generating membership and provide identity to the social bases.
From 1821 to 1917, the transfer of legitimacy from political to religious institutions
‘was a complex evolution. The revolutio-nary balance involved the establishment
of a secular model and hence the separation of the religious beliefs of the public
sphere. After the 1992 reform, the adoption of secularism as an essential element of
democratic pluralism has led to some reinterpretation of the system, according to the
requirements of intemational law. For the Mexican Episcopate, 2010 has served as an
occasion to offer an alternative view of official history. A church-state interaction
edges which largely explains the processes of political change in contemporary
Mexico.