Religious Citizens: On the Relation between Freedom of Religion and the Separation of Church and State

ICL Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul De Hert ◽  
Stefan Somers

AbstractThe scope of the fundamental right to freedom of religion has been broadly dis­cussed in recent jurisprudence and doctrine. Doctrine has however paid little attention to the role of constitutionalism and its principles such as this of the separation of church and state and the division of power. These principles are often not mentioned as such in inter­national human rights treaties. Does this mean that they are irrelevant in human rights adjudication?This article addresses the proper function of constitutionalism in human rights jurisprudence and in settling religious conflicts more in general. The Lautsi judgment of the European Court of Human Rights is used as a trigger to look at the relationship between religion, constitutionalism and human rights, and at the legitimacy of supranational courts. The article argues that international human rights jurisprudence must take national consti­tutionalism and its principles into account when dealing with the freedom of religion, even when those principles are not explicitly enshrined in human rights treaties. For this the use of the margin of appreciation seems to be appropriate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Ivan Matic

The subject of this paper will be the analysis of the question of religious toleration in the political thought of seventeenth century English philosopher John Locke. The first part of the paper will discuss the foundational principles of Locke?s political thought, particularly his contract theory. The second part will be dedicated to situating his positions on freedom of religion within the domain of that theory, accentuating the moment of separation between church and state. The final part will analyze the implications of religious toleration, as well as its limits, upon which Locke?s criterion of freedom of religion will be critically examined.


Author(s):  
Paul Guyer

This chapter compares the two philosophers’ great arguments for separation of church and state. Mendelssohn’s argument is contained in Part I of his 1783 Jerusalem. He holds that the state and any church employ two different means to the same end, human happiness, and that the state’s coercive methods have no place in religious practice. His argument is based on the religious premise that God is pleased only by the free rather than forced convictions of humans. Kant does not treat the separation of church and state in his 1793 Religion at all, because for him religious liberty is an immediate consequence of every human’s innate right to freedom, which is both the objective but also the limit of all state power. Religious liberty can therefore be treated from a purely political point of view, as Kant does in his 1797 Doctrine of Right.


2020 ◽  
pp. 214-228
Author(s):  
Rafał Prostak

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the relationships between the Baptist understanding of baptism (credobaptism; believer’s baptism) and church and the religious policy promoted by the early Baptists. The following texts are explored: A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity (1612) by Thomas Helwys; Persecution for Religion Judged and Condemned (1615) by John Murton; and Religious Peace: Or, a Plea for Liberty of Conscience (1614) by Leonard Busher. Helwys and Murton were leaders of the congregation of Spitalfields, the first Baptist community in the Kingdom of England. Busher, lesser known, probably belonged to the congregation, and his said work is the first treaty to defend freedom of religion by a Baptist.


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