This article, drawing on the philosophical and political works of Baruch Spinoza, analyzes the relation between religion and politics from the perspective of one of the most important rationalist thinkers of the early modern period. The central question guiding the study is: How can a rational, ethical, and balanced relationship between religion and politics be established so as to avoid either confrontation or domination of one by the other? The research hypothesis is that Spinoza, by institutional separation of religion and politics and by emphasizing rationality and morality, offers a model in which religion serves the public virtue and a politics based on the rational contracts of citizens.
By grounding a philosophy of the unity of being, natural rationality, and individual ethics, Spinoza sought to detach religion from the arena of political authority and place it in the service of public virtue and human dignity. In his works, particularly in the Theological-Political Treatise, he underscores that the legitimacy of the state stems from the rational consent of its citizens, and religion is legitimate only when it serves ethics, peace, and freedom, rather than domination and superstition.