In a world where spirituality should unite, history tells us that the opposite has often been the case. This article, written by Prof. Pietro Nocita in concomitance with parliamentary hearings on the possible reintroduction of the crime of plagio in Italy, offers a profound and articulate reflection on the concept of religion, its linguistic ambiguities and its historical drifts. The author, who has always been critical of the crime of plagio — introduced in Italy by the fascist regime and declared unconstitutional in 1981 because contrary to the principles of democracy — highlights how a certain intransigence has generated persecution, conflict and contradictions.
Prof. Nocita guides us on a journey through law, history and spirituality, inviting us to rethink belief not as a constraint, but as an opportunity for mutual respect and coexistence. It is essential to remember that the enemies of democracy and freedom are those who, by attempting to reintroduce a crime already declared unconstitutional as incompatible with the democratic system would aim to reinstate into the Italian legal system a tool useful only for suppressing dissent. Just the same way as in dictatorships — both right-wing and left-wing — where dissidents are interned in psychiatric hospitals, with the reintroduction of the crime of plagio, anyone, even in the absence of evidence, could be accused of “mental manipulation” and risk imprisonment in violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.
by Pietro Nocita — The crime of plagio was declared unconstitutional and such a crime cannot be proven, since the Code of Criminal Procedure prescribes that ‘expert reports are not admissible to establish habitual or professional criminal behaviour, the tendency to commit crimes, the character and personality of the defendant, and in general psychological qualities unrelated to pathological causes.’
The term ‘religion’, like all words with the same meaning used in different European languages, derives from the Latin lemma religio, which indicates that to which one is scrupulously bound (from the verb relègere) not only out of devotion and observance, but also out of irrational fear. The ambiguous aspect of the term, which is a vox media, is clearly expressed in Lucretius, according to whom religio is human fear of the gods that causes misfortune, such as the sacrifice of Iphigenia by her father Agamemnon on his departure for Troy “Tàntum religiò potuìt suadère malòrum” (De rerum natura, I, 101/) - ("Unto that much evil could religion persuad", translator's note)
Historically, intransigence in adhering to a religion has been expressed through persecution, and not only that: systematic aversion to individuals or groups because of their beliefs has been generating violence, denial of rights and discrimination over the centuries. While persecution was publicly justified by the “charitable” intention of converting enemies, or leading them onto the upright path of spirituality, and presented as a necessary act of religious profession, its deeper and more real motivations must be sought in religious intolerance, political demands and economic profit. In Rome, the persecution of Christians by Nero, Domitian, Decius, Valerian and Diocletian, triggered by accusations of threatening public order, was in fact linked to the failure to recognise the authority of the emperor and the rejection of his worship. Starting from the 11th century, the Crusades for the liberation of Jerusalem, far from being inspired by a feeling of devotion to the Holy Sepulchre, gave European paladins the opportunity for enrichment and commercial control of the eastern routes. Thus, according to the Oxfam Italia report, so-called religious conflicts are actually the result of a combination of ethnic, political and economic motivations, as in the case of the decades-long conflicts in Yemen, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Not only the contrast between different religions, but also the definition of orthodoxy within professions of faith, has been creating tensions and violence over the centuries. The early days of the Christian church were marked by bloody disputes between different sects, often in theological conflict over the nature of Christ: I remember, among others, the Arians, who believed that Christ was created and not begotten, the Nestorians, who believed that Christ was split into two entities, that of true god and that of true man, and the Monophysites, who professed exclusively the divine nature of the Anointed One of Nazareth.
The Christological dispute was only silenced in 325, when 250 bishops gathered in Nicaea, summoned by the then Roman emperor Constantine I. With the declaration of the Nicene Creed, known as the Symbolon, all Gnostic doctrines were rejected and the canons of the Catholic religion were established. However, this did not put an end to the tensions and persecutions within the church: intransigent heretics were persecuted and all the bishops of the council agreed that anyone who did not embrace the Symbolon would be exiled or sentenced to death. During that period, often gratuitous and mass violence, such as the famous massacre of the lapsi, those who had renounced Christianity under Roman torture, created many contradictions: among these was the baptism of Constantine himself, the great persecutor, who received the sacrament from the famous Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, and therefore from a heretic.
Since then, the history of religions has continued to be marked by contradictions and violence, although it is important to remember that none of the major monotheistic religions advocates intolerance or war. Through their literature, liturgies and different languages, Christians, Jews and Muslims profess a message of peace, justice and tolerance that still struggles to assert itself. The hope for future generations is that personal and collective beliefs will evolve into a feeling of mutual respect, finally breaking the bonds of ancestral religion and the intransigence of modern dogmas.
Pietro Nocita
