Freedom of Religion

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-264
Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Russian Constitution ◽  
The Face ◽  
Constitutional Protections ◽  
Organizational Character

This chapter analyzes the freedom of religion. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of religious freedom, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes why religious groups are particularly well equipped to protect religious freedom, and how the constitution can help them to protect their rights. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of religious freedom are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for religious freedom in practice. It attributes this finding to the organizational character of religious rights. Religious groups have tremendous capacity to protect their own rights in the face of transgressions of power, especially when they can rely on the constitution. This chapter further illustrates how this can play out with a case study on religious rights in Russia, which tells the story of how religious groups have used the Russian Constitution to mitigate the worst consequences of proposed constitutional violations. Finally, this chapter draws attention to the differences between majority and minority religions.

scholarly journals Religious interfaith work in Canada and South Africa with particular focus on the drafting of a South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain T. Benson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
African Charter ◽  
The Creation ◽  
South African Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Protections

Constitutional protections for religious freedom (and related freedoms of conscience, belief and association and equality), once interpreted by courts and tribunals, apply in a precedential manner to future cases. They have an influence well beyond the particular community to which they first applied. For this reason, religious communities have increasingly banded together and sought to intervene or even, on occasion, to initiate legal actions asserting or defending their rights. This article reviews some of the principles around the freedom of religion as understood in South Africa and Canada to show how courts have understood the freedom of religion in its social context. In addition, interfaith cooperation is discussed with particular reference to the recent process which led to the formation of a Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms pursuant to Section 234 of the South African Constitution (which is attached to the article). This section, a unique provision in any constitution, allows for the creation of additional Charters to give greater specificity to the general language of the Constitution itself. As such, it is an encouragement to civil society to determine what it thinks are the important provisions that should be spelled out to give guidance to politicians and the judiciary. Awide variety of religious groups participated in the creation of the Charter. The Charter does not claim to be, nor could it be, exhaustive of such concerns but demonstrates that religions can cooperate across a host of issues in education, health care, employment and other issues. The next stage – passage into law, is still in the future but the first important hurdle has been crossed with the signing of the Charter in October of 2010. The Charter might be a template for other countries though changes would be necessary to deal with local issues.

Freedom of Religion in post-secular Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 003776862110147
Author(s):  
Adam Possamai ◽  
Alphia Possamai-Inesedy
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Social Tension ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Social

Habermas coined the term post-secularism to reflect a time period in which religions are given a more central part in social and political life. Even if there is more openness to religion, many religious groups would claim that Western societies are nevertheless still dominated by secularism and want to ensure that freedom of religion and belief remain protected and promoted. This article explores the recent Australian Religious Freedom Review as a case study of the social tension between freedom for and from religion to argue that we might have moved beyond a post-secular sphere in this country. In this phase, what is meant by freedom of religion has shifted from a focus in having all religious groups being able to freely practice their faith to a focus by some mainstream religions to remain free to discriminate on the basis of their faith.

scholarly journals Framework of communication needed to protect against human rights violations of individuals who exercise their right to religious freedom in minority religions

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanus P. Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
International Level ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Religious Intolerance ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

The right to religious freedom is generally believed to be the solution to religious intolerance and discrimination and to ensure world peace amongst world citizens. On an international level, the United Nations, through the appointment of a special rapporteur for freedom of religion and belief, has introduced a tool to monitor violations of this right. This tool is known as �the framework of communications� and is focused mainly on the relationship between governments and religions. Unfortunately, religion is not excluded from the violation of human rights within its own ranks. This article pointed out that however pure the intention of freedom of religion, no real measures are in place to address violations of human rights in minority religions. Therefore, a tool is needed to investigate and address alleged violations within minority religions.

Right to Unionize

2020 ◽  
pp. 265-292
Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The Right ◽  
Constitutional Protections ◽  
Do So

This chapter analyzes the right to unionize. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of this right, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes why unions are well equipped to protect the right to unionize and other workers’ rights, and why the constitution can help them do so. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of the right to unionize are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for the right to unionize practice. It attributes this finding to the actions by trade unions, which use the constitution to protect their rights. This chapter also presents findings from a case study on the right to unionize in Tunisia, which illustrates how trade unions strategically used the Tunisian Constitution to protect their rights.

Law and Minority Religions: ““Positive”” and ““Negative”” Uses of the Legal System

1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Legal Action ◽  
Legal Environment ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Group Leaders ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Constitutional Protections ◽  
Regulatory Controls

ABSTRACT: This paper examines several instances in which the law has had a pronounced impact on minority religions, a term used herein to include both older and newer small religious faiths. It employs examples of practices and even beliefs that have been negatively impacted by legal action, as individuals or governments have attempted to exert social control on newer faithsa process referred to as ““affirmative discrimination”” by Thomas Robbins and James Beckford.1 In addition, the paper describes instances in which laws and legal protections have been used in ““positive”” manners by minority religious groups in attempts to accomplish the objectives of group leaders. The examples used demonstrate that minority faiths operate in a changeable legal environment, a fact that must be taken into account if we are to understand minority faiths in any modern society.2 Even in the U. S., with its constitutional protections for freedom of religion, governments are able to exert considerable managerial or regulatory controls over new faiths, especially if they become controversial in the eyes of societal power brokers and the public.3 In other societies without such enforced constitutional protections, minority faiths are even more vulnerable to management by governmental bureaucracies.

Religious Liberty in Indonesia and the Rights of “Deviant” Sects

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfitri
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

AbstractAlthough Indonesia has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and freedom of religion is a mandate of the 1945 Constitution, there is a significant difference between the promise and the practice of religious liberty, especially regarding the rights of sects in Indonesia. The article explores this theme in the context of the Congregation of Ahmadiyah Indonesia, a minority Islamic sect which is not considered as an agama, or official religion, as a case study. This designation has had various discriminatory effects on its adherents, which waters down significantly the guarantee of religious freedom in Indonesia.

scholarly journals Religious Freedom in Pakistan: A Case Study of Religious Minorities

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Musferah Mehfooz
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The Other ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The One ◽  
Religious Nation ◽  
Muslim Minorities

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a multi-racial and multi-religious nation, with Muslims being in the majority. Its 1973 Constitution guarantees religious freedom to all religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs. This is mainly because Islam itself ensures religious freedom to the whole of humanity. Unfortunately, some Muslim clerics seem to be attempting to deny religious freedom to other faiths in Pakistan. Their opposition to the plurality of faith contradicts Islamic principles. This research paper identifies such Islamic principles and examines the undesirability of the mistreatment of religious minorities in Pakistan, focusing on the arguments for and against religious freedom in Pakistan on the one hand, and the religious rights and freedoms of non-Muslim minorities from an Islamic perspective on the other. The methodology applied in this discussion is critical analysis. The conclusion drawn is that both the Constitution of Pakistan and Islam guarantee religious freedom to the country’s religious minorities. Finally, this study suggests some practical mechanisms to reconcile the different religious groups in Pakistan.

scholarly journals Opposing abuse in religious high-demand groups in South Africa: the case study of the “prophet” of Hertzogville

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 602-621
Author(s):  
S. P. Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right

Since the new Constitution came into force, there has been an increase in the number of high-demand religious groups. The more accommodating and tolerant approach towards religions brought about by the Constitution has created a fertile environment for the development of alternative religious groups. In certain cases, unfortunately, this has resulted in the violation of other basic human rights within the confines of these groups. There is very little monitoring of the various religions in South Africa and these violations seem to be on the increase. A need arose to oppose the infringement of human rights in high-demand religious groups. The organisation RIGH (Rights of Individuals Grant Honour To) was established to address this need. This article aims, first, to point out how the exercising of one basic human right, in this particular case the right to freedom of religion as exercised in Hertzogville, led to the violation of other basic human rights. Secondly, it suggests ways of opposing the infringements on other basic human rights by high-demand religious groups.

MINORITY RELIGIONS IN ISRAEL

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Sapir ◽  
Daniel Statman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Religious Services ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Jewish Religion

AbstractThe article discusses the question of how Israel ought to treat its minority religions and whether its actual policies towards them accord with her moral and constitutional obligations. The first part of the paper offers three arguments purporting to show that Israel is justified in granting privileged status to the Jewish religion over other religions, and rejects each of them in turn. In particular, it rejects the view that Israel is allowed to privilege Judaism over other religions as far as the funding of religious services and needs is concerned. Nonetheless, the possibility that, on the symbolic level, weak privileging of Judaism may be permissible is left open. The second part of the paper questions whether the State of Israel guarantees equal treatment to all religions, and the answer is in the negative. Finally, the paper discusses the religious freedom of non-Jews in Israel and the way it has been interpreted by the courts. It is contended that both in terms of the freedom of religion and in terms of the freedom from religion, the protection of non-Jews is somewhat weaker than that granted to Jews, a state of affairs that ought to be remedied.

Religion as a resource or as a source of exclusion? The case of Muslim women’s shelters

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Karlsson Minganti
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Women's Shelters ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
The North ◽  
Women’S Shelters

This chapter demonstrates, through a case study on women's shelters in Sweden, that it is not only the north–south divide that stands out in Europe, but also the conflictual notions of religion, and especially Islam, and secularity. It points to an assimilationist discourse that is widespread in Europe, which results in Muslim women being treated as victims of an oppressive religion. Such a normative secularism is dissolving religion as a resource and turning it into a source of exclusion. The shelter known as Somaya in Stockholm has been obliged to ‘tone down’ its Muslim profile by emphasising the idea of intersectionality as its political goal. The chapter then raises interesting questions about two frequently competing human rights, namely the freedom of religion and the rights of women—including those from minority religions.

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