scholarly journals THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN: THE NEGATIVE ASPECT OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION

Author(s):  
Orsolya Csatári ◽  
Boldizsár Szentgáli-Tóth
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Margaritis

Freedom of religion has been constantly characterized as one of the foundations of a democratic society. On the other hand, the significance of physical education in the development of children's overall personality is beyond dispute. Thus, the question that arises is, What happens in a case of a conflict involving the above? The aim of this chapter is to provide an answer on the basis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, the fundamental cases of Dogru vs. France and Kervanci vs. France will be examined, as well as the recent case of Osmanoglu and Kocabas vs. Switzerland. Through the analysis of the cases, useful conclusions will be drawn on the possible impact of religious freedom on physical education.


Author(s):  
Bielefeldt Heiner, Prof ◽  
Ghanea Nazila, Dr ◽  
Wiener Michael, Dr

This chapter addresses issues concerning the individual freedom to worship. Given the crucial significance of worship for the understanding and practice of religion, the texts of some national constitutions reduce the right to freedom of religion or belief to the element of worship by replacing it with the term ‘freedom to worship’. However, this narrow or even exclusive emphasis on worship can become an excuse for marginalizing or simply ignoring other important aspects of freedom of religion or belief, such as running charity institutions, offering education services or participating in public debate. It is therefore advisable not to isolate the element of worship, but to see it in conjunction with the other elements of the right to manifest one’s religion or belief through observance, practice, and teaching. The chapter also discusses issues of interpretation such as the ceremonial use of plants and drugs, as well as ritual slaughter and observance of dietary practices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvio Ferrari

This article answers the claim that it is impossible to implement the right to religious freedom in a coherent, non-discriminatory way. It relies on the notions of “embedded evenhandedness” and “particular universalities” to build a two-pronged approach to freedom of religion. On the one hand, this approach accepts that history and culture provide the particular framework within which the right of freedom of religion is embedded. On the other, it recognizes that the claim of evenhandedness that is inbuilt in this right can overcome the limitations of a specific context and open it to new ways to understand and implement the right itself. This tension between the universal dimension of the right to freedom of religion and its particular implementations allows affirming the possibility of religious freedoms, whose different manifestations are better protected by collecting them under the umbrella of the same legal category than by apportioning them between different rights.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Fitrawati Fitrawati

This paper tries to examine the right to freedom of interfaith marriage in Indonesia from the perspective of Human Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism. The purpose of this paper is to explain how universalism and cultural relativity view interfaith marriage in Indonesia. This research is a normative legal research. This study uses a literature approach. The findings of this study indicate that interfaith marriage in Indonesia is still not well accepted and has always been controversial news in the community, even considered to have exceeded or violated the provisions of marriage, but there are still followers of different religions who decide to marry. In fact, many of them are smuggling laws so that their marriages are recognized by the state, namely by registering marriages abroad and then continuing the registration in Indonesia. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Indonesia already has a law on Marriage, namely, Article 2 paragraph 1. It is also contained in the article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely the right to freedom of marriage (article 16 UDHR) which includes the right to marry between religions (different religions), and the right to freedom of religion (article 18 UDHR) which includes the right to change religions. Meanwhile, in cultural realivism, it rejects everything that is universal.


Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Sarah Claerhout ◽  
Jakob De Roover

In discussions about religious freedom in India, the country’s conflict regarding conversion plays a central role. The Constitution’s freedom of religion clause, Article 25, grants the right “freely to profess, practise and propagate religion,” but this has generated a dispute about the meaning of the right ‘to propagate’ and its relation to the freedom to convert. The recognition of this right is said to be the result of a key debate in the Constituent Assembly of India. To find out which ideas and arguments gave shape to this debate and the resulting religious freedom clause, we turn to the Assembly’s deliberations and come to a surprising conclusion: indeed, there was disagreement about conversion among the Assembly members, but this never took the form of a debate. Instead, there was a disconnect between the member’s concerns, objections, and comments concerning the draft article on the one hand, and the Assembly’s decision about the religious freedom clause on the other. If a key ‘debate’ took this form, what then could the ongoing dispute concerning conversion in India be about? We first examine some recent historiographical accounts of the Indian conflicts about conversion and proselytization. Then we develop a hypothesis that aims to make sense of this enduring conflict by identifying a blindness at its core: people reasoning against the background of Indian traditions see ‘propagation of religion’ as the human dissemination of tradition; this is incompatible with a religious conception where conversion and propagation of faith are seen in terms of God’s intervention. These two ways of seeing ‘propagation’ generate two conflicting experiences of the Indian dispute about religious freedom and conversion.


Author(s):  
Cedric Prakash SJ

Christianity in the region is under siege by fundamentalists from other religions who consider it a threat to their (often unjust and exploitative) way of life; by governments that are in nexus with these forces and by theocratic states in which the ‘other’ religion is seen as ‘alien’. While Christians have played prominent roles in India, anti-conversion laws in the country have been used by those who harbour ill-will towards the religious minorities, particularly Christians, to constantly discriminate against them and attack both their intentions and their actions. Attacks on Christians have been on the increase since 2014. In Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and countries of Central Asia, Christians experience systematic persecution (and even martyrdom) and, with rare exceptions, it is not easy for Christians to freely profess, practise and propagate their faith. In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have a Muslim majority, but unlike in several other Muslim countries, freedom of religion is guaranteed in their constitutions, though the actual implementation leaves much to be desired. Christians in South and Central Asia are involved in inter-religious dialogue and doing their best to engage with majority communities in countries where Christianity does not have much of a bearing.


1982 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akolda M. Tier

The right to freedom of religion and belief is closely linked with the rights to free expression of opinion, to peaceable assembly and freedom of association. In particular, they share the common purpose of assuring to an individual freedom of choice. Moreover, to be effective, each normally requires the use of one or other of the means of dissemination of knowledge and information, which include newspapers, books, pamphlets, petitions, posters, radio, television and motion pictures. Likewise, to be effective, the rights to freedom of religion and free expression of opinion must be linked to freedom of association in the sense of the right to form and to join organisations for the advancement of particular views and interests. This is particularly true of cities and other densely populated areas. Indeed, the essential similarity between these rights was reflected in their embodiment in a single article in earlier Sudan constitutions. A consequence of these similarities is that the denial or infringement of any one of them has further ramifications on the other rights apparently left intact. Accordingly, the present study, while focusing on freedom of religion, will make brief excursions into the related rights of free expression of opinion, assembly and association. Before considering problems raised by freedom of religion, reference must first be made to its necessity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Letsas

Abstract Liberal debates on religious accommodation have so far focused on the nature of the interest upon which the right to freedom of religion is based. Liberals who oppose religious accommodation argue that there is nothing special about religious belief. Those who defend accommodation on the other hand seek to identify some property (such as conscience or deep commitments) that both religious and non-religious beliefs can share. The article seeks to develop an argument in favor of certain types of religious accommodation that is agnostic about the nature of religious belief and whether it is special in any sense. It argues that it is a mistake to think that the question of religious accommodation, as it arises in law, must necessarily turn on arguments about freedom of religion. The principle of fairness can justify legal duties to accommodate religious (and non-religious) practices, without the need to assess the character of the practice in question or the reasons for engaging in it. The article argues further that the principle of fairness can better explain why human rights courts uphold some claims for religious accommodation as reasonable, and not others.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-82
Author(s):  
Neliana Rodean

Abstract In Romania, a semi-presidential system characterized by an exaltation of the powers of the President of the Republic, there would be critical observations to be reported in relation to this institution. More precisely, it refers to the constitutional provisions which weaken the President among the political institutions and could also lead to different interpretations. First of all, the paper examines the President as popularly elected body but that does not reflect fully the will of the nation. Secondly, its oath violated the freedom of religion and if the wording will not be changed, will continue to constitute a discrimination against other non Orthodox President that could be elected. Moreover, the Romanian legal system is characterized by an independence of the President in its relationship with the Parliament but on the one hand, that does not mean that the President is more powerful in the event of dissolution of the Parliament and the other hand, the Parliament is completely independent in determining its competences in relations with the office of the Presidency.


Author(s):  
Bielefeldt Heiner, Prof ◽  
Ghanea Nazila, Dr ◽  
Wiener Michael, Dr

The dominant concerns of this chapter relate to two aspects of the relationship between ‘religion’ and the ‘right to life’. One is the need to ensure that nobody is denied the right to life on grounds of their religion or belief (this being directly related to freedom of religion or belief), and the other is that nobody should be denied the right to life in the name of religion or belief. At the same time, the chapter also considers the broader horizon of multifaceted issues that are often considered relevant to life and religion. Issues such as religious values relating to the importance of life, and religious positions on abortion and on the death penalty are discussed in order to illustrate that, although not per se falling within freedom of religion or belief, they can be rendered relevant for the practice of freedom of religion or belief, depending on religious or moral convictions which people lay claim to.


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