The Right Concerning Sacred Matters

2021 ◽  
pp. 216-233
Author(s):  
Mogens Lærke
Keyword(s):  
General Framework ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Political Model ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
State Relations

This chapter studies how Spinoza’s theory of doctrines comes together in an integrated theological-political model of church–state relations. Chapter XIX of the Tractatus Theologico-politicus proposes a theory of ius circa sacra along broadly Erastian lines. In the Tractatus politicus, Spinoza prolongs this theory with an argument in favor of establishing a national religion. These texts raise questions regarding the coherence of Spinoza’s overall model, especially about how to reconcile his defense of religious freedom with the establishment of a state-controlled national religion. Comparing Spinoza’s position with those of Hobbes and Antistius Constans, the chapter attempts to resolve these tensions by showing how the national religion is conceived as a general framework for safeguarding the definition of true religion, while still allowing for a plurality of forms of worship to exist within that framework. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the religious uniformity imposed by Moses in the Hebrew Republic.

Religious freedom and the ‘right to discriminate’ in the school admissions context: a neo-republican critique

Legal Studies ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eoin Daly ◽  
Tom Hickey
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Religious Schools ◽  
The Public ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Republican Theory ◽  
Faith Schools

In law and discourse, it has typically been assumed that the religious freedom of state-funded religious schools must trump any competing right to non-discrimination on grounds of belief. For example, the Irish Constitution has been interpreted as requiring the broad exemption of denominational schools from the statutory prohibition on religious discrimination in school admissions. This stance is mirrored in the UK Equality Act 2010. Thus, religious discrimination in the public education context has been rationalised with reference to a ‘liberty-equality dichotomy’, which prioritises the integrity of faith schools' ‘ethos’, as an imperative of religious freedom. We argue that this familiar conceptual dichotomy generates a novel set of absurdities in this peculiar context. We suggest that the construction of religious freedom and non-discrimination as separate and antagonistic values rests on a conceptually flawed definition of religious freedom itself, which overlooks the necessary dependence of religious freedom on non-discrimination. Furthermore, it overstates the necessity, to religious freedom, of religious schools' ‘right to discriminate’. We argue for an alternative ordering of the values of religious freedom and non-discrimination – which we locate within the neo-republican theory of freedom as non-domination.

scholarly journals RELASI AGAMA DAN NEGARA

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Edi Gunawan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Religion And State ◽  
The Right ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Descriptive Method

This paper examines religious and state relations of Islamic thought perspective. This study aims to describe how the relationship between religion and state in the view of Islam. The method used in obtaining data is descriptive method through literature study. The results of the study show that among Muslim figures or thinkers such as Nurcholish Madjid and Abdur Rahman Wahid agree that there is a constructive relationship between state and religion which by revivalists separates it. Some of the indicators are: (1) Islam gives the principles of the formation of a state with the concept of khalīfah ,dawlah, or hukūmah, (2) Islam emphasizes the democratic values of truth and justice, and (3) Islam upholds Human Rights by stating that the basic rights that human beings bring ever since they are born are the right of religious freedom. Therefore, Islam essentially emphasizes the importance of human rights to be upheld in a state, because human rights are rights that should not be disturbed and deprived from the person who has the right.

scholarly journals Church-State Relations in the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921)

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 255-269
Author(s):  
Dimitry Gegenava
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Republic Of Georgia ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) was one of the unique states in the first quarter of XX century. Despite the historical relations between the Church and the State in Georgia, the social-democratic government changed its official policy and chose French secularism, which was very unusual for the country. This was incorporated in the Constitution of 1921. This article is about the Georgian church-state relations during 1918-1921, the positive and negative aspects of the chosen form of secularism and the challenges that the newly independent State faced in the sphere of religious freedom until the Soviet occupation.

Paths of Duty: Religion, Marriage, and the Press in a Transatlantic Scandal, 1835–1858

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 636-662
Author(s):  
SUZANNA KRIVULSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
English Court ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Press ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Catholic Church

When the Rev. Pierce Connelly denounced Protestantism and converted to Catholicism in 1835, he inadvertently started a small newspaper war among the burgeoning religious press in America. While Catholic periodicals celebrated their newest addition in print, Protestant newspapermen were scandalized. They worried about how the clerical husband's conversion might affect his marital life should he pursue ordination in the Catholic Church. Soon, the Connellys dissolved their marriage in Rome and moved to England, where Pierce became a priest, and his wife Cornelia entered a convent. When, thirteen years later, Pierce reconverted and sued Cornelia “for the restoration of conjugal rights” in an English court, the case became an international sensation – with both British and American newspapers covering the developments and using the saga to comment on larger religious and political issues of their time. The two scandals demonstrate how the transatlantic press debated contested global concerns about the limits of religious freedom, the changing nature of marriage, church–state relations, and international law.

scholarly journals Institutional Religious Freedom in Full: What the Liberty of Religious Organizations Really Is and Why It an “Essential Service” to the Common Good

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 414
Author(s):  
Timothy Samuel Shah
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Negative Liberty ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

Should the freedom of churches and other religious institutions come down to little more than a grudging recognition that “what happens in the church, stays in the church”? In this article, I provide a more robust definition of what I call institutional religious freedom than a crabbed and merely negative understanding. In addition, I also go beyond a libertarian-style defense of institutional religious freedom as the ecclesiastical equivalent of the “right to be left alone” by suggesting a multitude of reasons why institutional religious freedom in a robust form deserves robust protection. Especially amidst exigent challenges such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, an anemic appeal to an ecclesiastical version of negative liberty on merely jurisdictional grounds will not be enough to defend religious organizations from an increasingly strong temptation and tendency on the part of political authorities—often acting on the basis of understandable intentions—to subject such organizations to sweeping interference even in the most internal matters. In contrast, the article offers an articulation of why both the internal and external freedoms of religious institutions require maximum deference if they are to offer their indispensable contributions—indeed, their “essential services”—to the shared public good in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Underscoring the external and public dimensions of institutional religious freedom, the article follows the work of law and religion scholar W. Cole Durham in that it analytically disaggregates the freedom of religious institutions into three indispensable components: “substantive”, or the right of self-definition; “vertical”, or the right of self-governance; and “horizontal”, or the right of self-directed outward expression and action.

Conversion of Religion: A Study on the Position of Law, Religion, and Practice in Malaysia and Egypt

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Nur Arfah Abdul Sabian ◽  
Abdul Mutalib Embong ◽  
Raja Ahmad Iskandar Raja Yaacob ◽  
Zullina Hussain Shaari
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Printed Media ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Research Theme ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Paper Review ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right

Objective - This paper is a comparative study between two selected countries in relation to conversion cases in religion or belief. Malaysia and Egypt are in the picture since both are Islamic countries, and frequently being reported to possess low level of religious freedom prior to the intervention of the religious authorities and Shariah court. The first part of the paper will discuss the definition of conversion and apostasy. The second part follows with the position on the right of conversion in the stated countries Methodology/Technique - The paper will use the content analysis methodology. Its approach focuses on the literature sources from printed media such as books, law journals, written reports and other relevant and authentic materials. Findings - Highlight the main findings that justified the research theme. Novelty - It will narrow the discussion to illustrate the development of the administration of justice specifically for the right of conversion in both countries in line to UDHR 1948. Type of Paper - Review. Keywords: Freedom of religion, conversion, Islam, human right, comparative studies, Malaysia, Egypt

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WITHOUT EQUALITY? RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION IN ARGENTINA

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Martin Vives
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Unequal Treatment ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
The Right ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
State Relations

AbstractThe Argentine Constitution contains two provisions regarding church-state relations. The first one recognizes the right of all people to the free exercise of religion. The second one provides that the state must financially support the Catholic Church. Based on this latter clause, over the years a complex regulatory scheme has been developed that differentiates that church from all the other churches and religions. Those differences are addressed in this article. The author argues that the religious establishment does not depend only on how the state defines itself (e.g., through a declaration in the constitution), but also on the way in which it treats people based on their religion. If that treatment is unequal—for example, when there are legal privileges only to a single church—then there is a kind of establishment of religion. It has been claimed that the religious establishment is not itself incompatible with religious freedom. In arguing that religious minorities can hold a different opinion, the author offers a brief account of the problems faced by non-Catholic faith communities in Argentina because of the state's unequal treatment. Finally, the author analyzes whether the reasons given to justify the legal differences between religions are acceptable. Otherwise, it could be said that there is discrimination—at least, in a broad sense—against religious minorities. While this article focuses on the Argentine case, the issues addressed are relevant to any country dealing with the unequal treatment of people based on their religion.

Religious Freedom in Thomas More's Utopia

2002 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Religious Reform ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
Vexed Question ◽  
State Relations

Thomas More advocated religious freedom in Utopia to promote civic peace in Christendom and to help unify his fractious Catholic Church. In doing so, he set forth a plan for managing church-state relations that is a precursor to liberal approaches in this area. Most scholars locate the origins of modern religious freedom in Protestant theology and its first mature articulation in Locke's A Letter on Toleration. This reading of Utopia shows that modern religious freedom has Catholic, Renaissance roots. The essay discusses how scholars have treated Utopian religious freedom and considers the much vexed question of whether More actually favored this principle. It also presents the historical context for More's analysis, his rationale for religious freedom, its effects on Utopian religion and politics, and More's strategy for promoting religious reform in Europe.

scholarly journals Church and Church/State Relations in the Post-Reformation Reformed Tradition

2016 ◽  
pp. 241-258
Author(s):  
Ian Hazlett
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Covenant Theology ◽  
Active Resistance ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Civil Sphere ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This chapter outlines Reformed positions on the church, church-state relations, and the sacraments. The first section introduces perspectives in relation to predestination and covenant theology, and in contrast to the Church of Rome; considers the definition of the church and the relationship between a congregation and the church catholic; illustrates how the visible church was identified; shows how church authority was understood; examines the ministerial order, and then depicts the rationale for presbyterial polity. The church-state relations portion highlights the contrast between some who stood for a distinct, autonomous spiritual jurisdiction alongside the civil sphere and others who surrendered responsibility to the state; issues of obedience, disobedience, and active resistance to tyrannical rule are also indicated. The section on the sacraments deals with them generally and then in relation to baptism and the Eucharist. It is demonstrated that on many matters there was no seamless homogeneity within the Reformed world.

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