This paper is devoted to examine the concrete historical situation of conflict out of which the modern citizenship arose. In this way we can trace how different are German, French and American conceptions.
In Germany citizenship born as linked with being part of a tradition and a nation from a cultural standpoint, implying a cult of History and belonging. A backward looking conception where the "essence" of things lies always in the origins, and where the "secular" element is given more by this "cult" than by an actual opposition to religion.
On a another side France and the USA moulded citizenship on a political forward looking creed.
In the case of France this creed has been deeply rooted in secularization and in the actual fight of the State against the Church.
The American conception, as secular as it may be, is anyway inextricably nested in a deep, even if many times unconscious, political messianism, implying a constant effort to redeem the world. So that from this vewpoint "secularization" as such seems a category peculiarly linked with European History, and of doubtful use in comparative studies.
The Conclusion is the utopic character of general theories on secularization and the possible rise of a global citizenship.
Both concepts are rather nomic, in the sense of being context specific and linked with European political forms, so that they loose any precise meaning when used outside of these forms.
