scholarly journals (Non)Religious Freedom: A Critical Perspective on the Contemporary Understanding of Freedom of Conscience and Religion

Politeja ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2(71)) ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
Rafał Prostak
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Free Exercise ◽  
Human Value ◽  
Liberty Of Conscience

Nowadays, liberty of conscience as an inalienable right is a standard of demoliberal constitutionalism. It is an obvious component of a well-organized society and state. However, at the very beginning of its presence in the political discourse, it was more a product of Christian theology (the free conscience perceived as a gift of God) than a legal category; more an endowment of divinity than an intrinsic human value. In the contemporary, secularized world, our understanding of freedom of religion includes not only free exercise of religion but also freedom from religion. An increasing number of non-believers changes our expectations of the state that is obliged to protect the freedom of conscience of all citizens regardless of their beliefs. The goal of the article is to consider the difficulties faced by people with a theistic worldview in the reality of a state founded on the principle of ideological neutrality.

scholarly journals Demokrasi Antara Pembatasan Dan Kebebasan Beragama Serta Implikasinya Terhadap Formalisasi Islam

FIKRAH ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Abu Hapsin
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Democratic Country

<p><span>This paper discusses the relationship between democracy and freedom of religion. If democracy is defined as the freedom to behave as long as it is still in the constitutional frame, then the problem is whether to interpret democracy by formalizing religion in the political and legal order of a democratic country? The question rests on the assumption that religion has no rational domain so that the relationship between democracy and religious freedom sometimes becomes problematic when imposed on the constitutional domain. Theories of John Rawls and Franklin I. Gamwell as modern thinkers led to the conclusion that in certain areas religion cannot be forced into the political sphere, but universally religion is part of politics.</span></p>

scholarly journals Religious Freedom for the religious minorities in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis of the insertion of state religion in the constitution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Didarul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Status

This research explores the status of religious freedom in Bangladesh for the religious minorities from a critical perspective. The main subject of this research is religious minorities in Bangladesh mainly the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Christians. As Islam is the state religion in Bangladesh constitution, religious minorities feel inferior to the Muslims. This research attempts to explore whether the insertion of ‘state religion’ in the Bangladesh constitution is a threat to freedom of religion in Bangladesh with special preference to religious minorities

scholarly journals Freedom of religion and Protestantism: historical and contemporary context

2017 ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Babiy ◽  
Liudmyla O. Fylypovych
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
90Th Anniversary ◽  
Historical Origin ◽  
The Right ◽  
Contemporary Context

The problem of freedom of religion in the year of the 90th anniversary of the Reformation is relevant. It can not but attract the attention of researchers, experts, believers - Protestants and non-Protestants. Half a millennium of Europeans, and with them a part of Americans live in a new religious and ideological reality, which is fundamentally different from the previous one, mainly one-or two-culturally, with its diversity. And here a special role belongs to Protestantism as one of the consequences of the Reformation of 1517. By studying the Protestant foundations of faith, the life of his followers, the thoughts of his ideologues, you realize that freedom of conscience, freedom of religion is not an empty sound or abstraction, but values ​​that are chosen and endured by Protestants. The right to profess his faith, to honor God in his own way paid for thousands of killed, persecuted, imprisoned, robbed, who did not renounce faith, did not renounce freedom of conscience. Until now, Protestants are the most consistent defenders of religious freedom, since they remember the price that had to be paid for their own convictions and religious confidences in most of Europe and America. Although the vast majority of Protestants have long been historical, and somewhere even dominant churches, they generally consistently continue to defend not only their rights, where they are violated, but also the rights of other religious minorities in countries of their historical origin and spread.

Freedom of Religion

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avihay Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Free Exercise ◽  
Liberty Of Conscience ◽  
Political Legitimation ◽  
Proper Account

Why it is that the principle of freedom of religion, rather than a more general principle such as liberty or liberty of conscience, figures so prominently in our lived experience and, in particular, in the constitutional commitment to the free exercise of religion? The Paper argues, negatively, that the most prominent answers offered thus far fall short; and positively, that the principle of freedom of religion arises out of a thicker understanding of the much neglected relationship between religious liberty and democracy. Indeed, a proper account of the legitimacy of the democratic process. I argue, dissolves the mystery surrounding freedom of religion, and thus allows for an adequate justification of this principle. The thesis of this paper is that freedom of religion is a remedy that redresses the (warranted) exclusion of certain religious arguments from the democratic process. The redress is grounded in a republican concern for political self-determination while exclusion is prescribed by a liberal ideal of political legitimation.

scholarly journals Overview of religious freedom in Ukraine, including Crimea

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 107-116
Author(s):  
Maksym Vasin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Annual Growth ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Sufficient Degree ◽  
The Law ◽  
Favorable Conditions

In Ukraine, believers of all faiths can exercise freedom of religion to a sufficient degree. Despite the fact that the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” has not been substantially revised since 1991 and needs to be improved in the context of social transformations, favorable conditions for the development and annual growth of the number and diversity of religious organizations have been formed on its basis.

Religious Freedom in Contest

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 178-211
Author(s):  
M. Mohsin Alam Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Conversion ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modern Hinduism ◽  
Rights Issues

Abstract Legal regulation of religious conversion has become one of the central human rights issues worldwide. Numerous countries, especially in South Asia, have enacted laws that prohibit proselytizating on the grounds of force, allurement, and misrepresentation. Critics have consistently relied on freedom of religion to oppose these laws, but courts in these jurisdictions have upheld them on the very grounds of religious freedom. The present Article explains the historical and ideological bases of this counterintuitive approach to religious freedom by focusing on the case of India. It argues that this approach is based on a historically evolving conception of religion associated with modern Hinduism, according to which all religions have an equal claim to spiritual truth. This precept of religious equality has come to constitute the political and judicial approach to religious freedom and religious conversion laws. The Article uses this interpretive insight to renew the normative critique of such laws.

RESTORING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Domingo
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
Political Communities

AbstractThis paper argues that secular legal systems need a better defined space for freedom of conscience because this important right has been crowded out by both freedom of religion and freedom of thought. Based on the principles of the Protestant Reformation, American constitutionalism expanded the idea of freedom of conscience to the point of making it almost interchangeable with freedom of religion. On the other hand, international law, followed by European constitutional law, reduced the political force of the concept of freedom of conscience by assimilating it to freedom of thought. And yet freedom of conscience cannot be treated just the same as either religious freedom or freedom of thought. By nature, the secular legal systems of political communities are moral, but nonreligious. So morality and religion affect legal systems in different ways. For this reason, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion should be protected using different legal devices. The so-called privilege of abstaining (beneficium abstinendi) best protects freedom of conscience; freedom of religion, by contrast, is appropriately protected by what I call the religious exception (exceptio religiosa). The consequences of applying these legal tools in particular cases, and their proper scopes, depend on the constitutional model of the political community in question. But in general, an increasingly globalized, diverse, and multicultural society demands a wider application of both these legal tools.

Secularism And Freedom of Religion: The Approach of the European Court of Human Rights

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Morini
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

This Article focuses on the approach of the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, concerning the relationship between secularism and freedom of religion and the application of the “margin of appreciation doctrine.” Through the investigation of the relevant jurisprudence of the Court dealing with religious freedom and the principle of secularism (the Şahin, Dahlab, and Lautsi cases), the Author demonstrates that Court jurisprudence is moving from the application of principles of “pluralist secularism” toward a “fundamentalist approach” to secularism. Having evaluated the modus operandi of the Court in the light of the competing interests at stake, the Author suggests that in deciding cases where secularism and freedom to manifest religion collide, the Court should follow a case-by-case approach primarily aimed at protecting individual liberties and has to consider the political and cultural background of each situation and the effective impact on the State's life of the individual behavior.

“I'd make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson's Catiline His Conspiracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Legal Procedures ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document