sacralism

Sacralism is a political and social doctrine that grounds political authority, law, and public life in sacred principles, religious law, or the divine legitimacy of rulers or institutions. The term combines sacral (sacred) with -ism to indicate a system that sacralizes the political order.

In practice, sacralism can legitimize rulers through divine right, embed religious norms into constitutions or policy, and organize state rituals to reinforce a sacred order. It differs from theocracy and clericalism: a theocracy places religious authorities in direct control of government, while sacralism may influence power without a fully sacerdotal state.

Variants have appeared in monarchies claiming sacred sanction, religiously inflected nation-building, and traditions that link social order to sacred norms, including some historic East Asian and European contexts.

Scholars debate sacralism's effects. Proponents argue it can promote social cohesion and legitimacy; critics warn it can privilege a single religious framework, suppress dissent, and threaten freedom of conscience in plural societies.

In political science, sacralism is analyzed as a form of political theology, often in relation to secularism, religious nationalism, and the politics of state-religion entanglement.