Alstin loophole
| This article is a stub. You can help IxWiki by expanding it. |
The Alstin loophole was a method by which Protestants in Levantia were able to practice quasi-legally during most of the 1800s.
The Treaty of Lariana, signed in 1806, provided for limited religious toleration of merchants and ambassadors from Alstin within the Holy Levantine Empire as well as a limited amount of clerics of the Chantry of Alstin to provide for their spiritual needs. The Treaty's language provided that normally illegal religious proceedings attended by a protected official could not be prevented nor disrupted. This language allowed for many underground Protestant groups in Levantia to begin to worship semi-openly provided that an Alstinian national was present at their worship in an ad hoc basis. The Government of Alstin by 1820 decided to direct its embassies to make contact with local Protestant groups in order to have a rotation of officials in attendance of Protestant worship services, even if they were non-Chantric in nature. The decision to officialize the Alstin loophole greatly contributed to the survival and moderate growth of Levantine Protestantism in the 1800s and enhanced Alstin's global prestige among Protestants, being viewed as a protector of the faith.
The loophole largely ended when the Treaty of Lariana was superseded in the early 1900s with bilateral agreements between Alstin and the individual members of the Holy Levantine Empire; by this time, religious persecution of Protestants had largely ceased.