Civil Authority of Clericalism and its Modern Challenges

Clericalism is considered as one of the institutes of civil society and the most authoritative in Iran because it is a developed organization based on one of the main social needs that is the religion. The main function of this institute is the comprehension of religion, propagation of it and performing its rituals. Moreover, in the specific historical conditions, it is added some history-wise duties to it. The civil institutes as the components of civil society are stated beside the political institutes. The main distinguishing aspect is that organizational civility like clericalism depends on not being political and keeping its independence from political sovereignty on one hand and on the other hand preserving its validity and efficiency in the Islamic community. Nevertheless, during the years after the glorious victory of Islamic revolution and the involvement of clergymen in some principles of Islamic government, its civil aspect has been affected and its efficacy has decreased in this very domain. This article is to merely analyze the decreasing elements of social authority of clergymen during the recent decades without putting emphasis on the necessity of clergymen revisiting their traditional functions and terminating their presence in the Islamic government. The article is to investigate these elements and their way of shedding light on the civility of this institute.