The term “laicism” was coined in France during the struggle for spiritual power under the Third Republic and introduces the problems of the “Church and the World” as they were understood in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is only against this historical background that the attitude of laicism to the relationship of Church and State, for instance, can be properly understood. Laicizing thought was given its classical form in France, though it also played an important role in other countries down to the present century.

The spiritual roots of l…