Freethinkers versus Catholics. Debates and strategies in the Argentine Congress around the Centenary

Abstract

After the so-called “leyes laicas” of the 1880s, there was a slowdown in Argentinian laicization. Different authors tend to agree that, around the Centenary of the May Revolution, a convergence took place between the ruling elites and the Catholic Church to the detriment of laicization. Recent research has used the notion of modus vivendi to refer to this kind of tacit agreement between the Church and the State. However, some aspects of this concept have not been fully addressed yet, such as the specific historical actors who participated and how they did so. This article proposes to explore the operation of this modus vivendi from the analysis of a series of secular proposals presented in the Argentine Congress around the Centenary by freethinking deputies. In this sense, it seeks to delve into how this tacit agreement was reflected in legislative practice, for example, based on parliamentary coalitions of freethinkers and Catholics and their respective strategies.