secular power
Nonreligious governmental control
Secular power is political or governmental authority as distinct from religious or ecclesiastical authority.
The term appears in discussions of church-state relations, where secular power controls civil affairs—taxation, military force, law enforcement—while spiritual power governs matters of faith and salvation.
The king claimed secular power over the monasteries.
The phrase often implies tension: who has final authority when sacred and secular interests conflict?
- governmentAuthority over a state
- civil rightsGuaranteed individual legal protections
- constitutionInherent physical or structural makeup
- rule of lawSupremacy of established laws
- executive branchGovernment's implementing arm
public policy · capitalism · sovereignty · modernity · ideology · nationalism · civil society · statecraft · monarchy · republic · wealth · judiciary · welfare · political legitimacy · trade · legislation · humanism · education
- church-statechurch-state, separation, church-state separation, establishment clause, religious accommodation
- Sacred Authoritydivine right, papal authority, papal supremacy, theocracy, divine mandate
- Early Papacypapacy, Holy See, papal authority, Saint Peter, Vatican
- Islamic governancecaliph, caliphate, sharia, sultanate, emirate
- RisorgimentoGaribaldi, unification, Piedmont, House of Savoy, Magenta
secular powertheocracy
Rule by religious authority
religious authority · divine authority · divine right · church authority · papal authority
secular, power, secularism, secularist, secularize, secularization, secularly, powerful, powerfully