The Catholic Second Amendment

The Catholic Second Amendment

Dave Kopel

Hamline Law Review

2006, forthcoming

http://www.davidkopel.org/Religion/Catholic-Second-Amendment.pdf

(PDF formatrequires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

At the beginning of the second millennium, there was no separation of church andstate, and kings ruled the church. Tyrannicide was considered sinful. By theend of the thirteenth century, however, everything had changed. The “LittleRenaissance” that began in the eleventh century led to a revolution inpolitical and moral philosophy, so that using force to overthrow a tyrannicalgovernment became a positive moral duty. The intellectual revolution was anessential step in the evolution of Western political philosophy that eventually led to the American Revolution.