Editing Separation of church and state (section)

===Mexico===
{{See also|Laïcité#Mexico|Holy See-Mexico relations}}

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The issue of the role of the [[Catholic Church in Mexico]] has been highly divisive since the 1820s. Its large land holdings were especially a point of contention. Mexico was guided toward what was proclaimed a separation of church and state by [[Benito Juárez]] who, in 1859, attempted to eliminate the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the nation by appropriating its land and prerogatives.<ref name=mexhistory>{{cite web|url=http://history-world.org/mexico.htm|title=Mexico, A brief History|publisher=history-world.org|access-date=2007-10-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017111717/http://history-world.org/mexico.htm|archive-date=2007-10-17|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name=LeyLerdoClements>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=548|title=Ley Lerdo|first=Greg|last=Clements|publisher=historicaltextarchive.com|access-date=2007-10-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314043156/http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle|archive-date=2007-03-14|url-status=dead}}</ref>

President [[Benito Juárez]] confiscated church property, disbanded religious orders and he also ordered the separation of church and state<ref name="Stauffer2019">{{cite book|author=Brian A. Stauffer|title=Victory on Earth or in Heaven: Mexico's Religionero Rebellion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuK5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|year=2019|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|isbn=978-0826361288|pages=4–|access-date=2020-10-20|archive-date=2021-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417210429/https://books.google.com/books?id=NuK5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}</ref> His [[Juárez Law]], formulated in 1855, restricting the legal rights of the church was later added to the [[Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857|Constitution of Mexico]] in 1857.<ref name="CoerverPasztor2004">{{cite book|author1=Don M. Coerver|author2=Suzanne B. Pasztor|author3=Robert Buffington|title=Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSred4NyOKoC&pg=PA245|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1576071328|pages=245–|access-date=2020-10-20|archive-date=2020-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022165709/https://books.google.com/books?id=YSred4NyOKoC&pg=PA245|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1859 the ''[[Ley Lerdo]]'' was issued – purportedly separating church and state, but actually involving state intervention in Church matters by abolishing monastic orders, and nationalizing church property.

In 1926, after several years of the [[Mexican Revolution]] and insecurity, President [[Plutarco Elías Calles]], leader of the ruling [[National Revolutionary Party (Mexico)|National Revolutionary Party]], enacted the [[Calles Law]], which eradicated all the personal property of the churches, closed churches that were not registered with the State, and prohibited clerics from holding a public office. The law was unpopular; and several protesters from rural areas, fought against federal troops in what became known as the [[Cristero War]]. After the war's end in 1929, President [[Emilio Portes Gil]] upheld a previous truce where the law would remain enacted, but not enforced, in exchange for the hostilities to end.