Freedom of religion

====Early steps and attempts in the way of tolerance====
[[File:Cross menorah Oxford 20051225.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Christian cross|cross]] of the [[war memorial]] and a [[Menorah (Temple)|menorah]] coexist in [[Oxford]], Oxfordshire, England]]
[[Kingdom of Sicily|The Norman Kingdom of Sicily]] under Roger II was characterized by its multi-ethnic nature and religious tolerance. Normans, Jews, Muslim Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards, and native Sicilians lived in harmony.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9377080/Roger-II|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070523045823/http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9377080/Roger-II|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 May 2007|title=Roger II|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=3 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1D61331F935A15757C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|title=Tracing The Norman Rulers of Sicily|work=The New York Times|date=26 April 1987|access-date=3 September 2011}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2015}} Rather than exterminate the Muslims of Sicily, Roger II's grandson [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen]] (1215–1250) allowed them to settle on the mainland and build mosques. Not least, he enlisted them in his{{snd}} Christian{{snd}} army and even into his personal bodyguards.<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Gravett|title=German Medieval Armies 1000–1300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nav0JZtAJbcC|year=1997|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1855326576|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nav0JZtAJbcC&pg=PA17 17]}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{Request quotation|date=February 2015}}<ref>Thomas Curtis Van Cleve's ''The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen: Immutator Mundi'' (Oxford, 1972)</ref>{{Request quotation|date=February 2015}}

[[Kingdom of Bohemia]] (present-day Czech Republic) enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 as a result of the [[Bohemian Reformation]], and became one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period of time. The so-called Basel Compacts of 1436 declared the freedom of religion and peace between Catholics and [[Utraquism|Utraquists]]. In 1609 Emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia greater religious liberty with his Letter of Majesty. The privileged position of the Catholic Church in the Czech kingdom was firmly established after the [[Battle of White Mountain]] in 1620. Gradually freedom of religion in Bohemian lands came to an end and Protestants fled or were expelled from the country. A devout Catholic, Emperor [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]] forcibly converted Austrian and Bohemian Protestants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gw.geneanet.org/cousinjeanne?lang=en&n=austria&oc=2&p=ferdinand+ii+habsburg|title=Family tree of Ferdinand II Habsburg AUSTRIA|website=Geneanet|language=en|access-date=2019-12-23}}</ref>

In the meantime, in Germany [[Philip Melanchthon]] drafted the [[Augsburg Confession]] as a common confession for the Lutherans and the free territories. It was presented to Charles V in 1530.

In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], Charles V agreed to tolerate Lutheranism in 1555 at the [[Peace of Augsburg]]. Each state was to take the religion of its prince, but within those states, there was not necessarily religious tolerance. Citizens of other faiths could relocate to a more hospitable environment.

In France, from the 1550s, many attempts to reconcile Catholics and Protestants and to establish tolerance failed because the State was too weak to enforce them. It took the victory of prince Henry IV of France, who had converted into Protestantism, and his accession to the throne, to impose religious tolerance formalized in the [[Edict of Nantes]] in 1598. It would remain in force for over 80 years until its revocation in 1685 by [[Louis XIV of France]]. Intolerance remained the norm until Louis XVI, who signed the Edict of Versailles (1787), then the constitutional text of 24 December 1789, granting civilian rights to Protestants. The [[French Revolution]] then abolished state religion and the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] (1789) guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society.