Liberalism, secularization and religious pluralization in Colombia. About a forbidden pamphlet by Rafael Uribe Uribe

In 1912, the political and military leader Rafael Uribe Uribe (1859-1914) published the book De como el liberalismo politico colombiano no es pecado, criticizing the close alliance between the Catholic Church and the Conservative party. Despite the censorship imposed on the document, it can be considered as a theoretical advance of secularization and plurality in Colombia, phenomena that would develop several decades after its publication. The separation between the State and the Church, the non-interference of the hierarchy in political affairs, and the idea that sympathizing with the Liberal party and being Catholic was not a contradiction, are the main ideas that anticipate the resolution of the religious issues that served as an incentive for political conflicts in Colombia. The text questions the contribution of Uribe's pamphlet to the discussion on the relationship between religion and politics in Colombia and exposes the main events of the political and military life of the liberal leader. The document has two sections: the first addresses the relationship between politics and religion in its two-faced dimension as legitimator of the conservative status quo and scourge of the opposition dissent from the Liberal party. The second one considers in what way the book De como el liberalismo politico colombiano no es pecado can be read as a theoretical and conceptual preview of secularization and religious pluralization in Colombia.