scholarly journals Freedom of Religion: The Contribution of Contemporary Iranian Reformist Scholars

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Specific Line

This article examines a specific line of thinking shared by several contemporary reformist Iranian religious scholars who present arguments in favor of freedom of religion. Focusing on the ideas of five prominent reformist Iranian scholars—Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945), Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari (b.1936), Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (b.1950), Mohsen Kadivar (b.1959), and Ahmad Qabel (d.2012)—the article argues that these thinkers’ defense of freedom of religion is based not only on their interpretations of the Qurʾān and historical Islamic sources, but also philosophical arguments in which concepts from the fields of epistemology and hermeneutics are deployed. As the article demonstrates, some of these scholars connect the notion of freedom of religion to political arguments supporting religious tolerance, or the view that, in order to guarantee religious freedom, the state must be neutral towards the religious orientation of its citizens.

scholarly journals Proselytising the Regulation of Religious Bodies in South Africa: Suppressing Religious Freedom?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radley Henrico
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Personal Belief ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
The Right

In democratic pluralistic and secular societies, freedom of religion is a fundamental right to be enjoyed by all individuals and religious organisations. A unique feature of this human right is the extent to which it is premised on a personal belief. The latter can be "bizarre, illogical or irrational", but nevertheless deserving of protection in the interests of freedom of religion. However, when the expression of a religious belief or practice transgresses the civil or criminal law it must be dealt with in the relevant legislative framework to hold the transgressor liable. Measures taken by the state to regulate religious bodies in terms of a general supervisory council or umbrella body are an unreasonable and unjustifiable interference with freedom of religion, and hence unconstitutional. I am of the view that the right to freedom of religion depends for its constitutional validity – and viability – on there being no interference (or regulation) by the state except in instances as provided for in terms of relevant legislation.    

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.

scholarly journals The situation of freedom of religion and belief in the South Caucasus

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 98-101
Author(s):  
Shorena Kobaidze
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
State Agency ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
The Past

Attitude towards freedom of religion and belief, tolerance and the concept of multiculturalism, as well as generally towards the protection of the rights of national, ethnic and religious minorities, remains extremely difficult in the South Caucasus region. Despite the declared strong tradition of public religious tolerance, the attitude of government agencies and institutions to religious freedom has worsened in both Azerbaijan and Georgia over the past few years. If in Azerbaijan the authorities in recent years continued to impose fines for violating the repressive law on religion of 2009, adopting new restrictions and further aggravating the general atmosphere, in Georgia since the establishment of the new state agency on religions in 2014, there are no effective mechanisms for resolving minority issues have not been taken.

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

Neutrality and the Religion Analogy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Vallier ◽  
Michael Weber
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Core ◽  
American Tradition ◽  
Conception Of The Good

Neutralitarian liberalism, which holds that the state should be neutral toward controversial conceptions of the good, is often defended as a generalization from religious liberty—a more abstract statement of the principle that supports the tradition of religious freedom. The analogy misapprehends the core case upon which it is based. The American tradition of freedom of religion itself rests on a controversial conception of the good: the idea that religion is valuable and that legal rules should be crafted for the purpose of protecting that value. Disestablishment entails a kind of neutrality toward certain contested conceptions of the good. This, however, is not neutralitarian liberalism and in fact is inconsistent with it.

Part 2 Discrimination, 2.1 Discrimination on the Basis of Religion or Belief/Interreligious Discrimination/Tolerance

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bielefeldt Heiner, Prof ◽  
Ghanea Nazila, Dr ◽  
Wiener Michael, Dr
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Reasonable Accommodation ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Unfair Treatment ◽  
Indirect Discrimination ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Recent Debate

This chapter focuses on religious discrimination. Not only does freedom of religion or belief prohibit undue infringements into a person’s religious freedom; it also prohibits discrimination—the denial of equality and unfair treatment based on religion. The discussion on discrimination has become more and more complex in recent debate, both with a view to different types of actors (State institutions, de facto authorities, and non-State institutions) and to different forms of discrimination (direct, indirect, structural, intersectional). While many experiences of discrimination continue to be overt and recognizable, more sensitivity has also arisen concerning concealed forms of discrimination, such as indirect discrimination, sometimes hidden under seemingly neutral rules. Reasonable accommodation should be used to tackle these phenomena. Moreover the State bears the responsibility to address the root causes of intolerance, societal discrimination, and violence committed in the name of religion.

scholarly journals Dialogue Model For Resolving Freedom of Religion Conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 04006
Author(s):  
Rini Fidiyani ◽  
Erni Wulandari
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Research Use ◽  
State Law ◽  
Place Management ◽  
Dialogue Model ◽  
Religious People ◽  
Formal Institution

Indonesian People, a multicultural citizen with Bhinneka Tunggal Ika as their motto. According to the constitution, the country guaranteed freedom of religion. As data found, the actor of violating freedom of religion is state individuals and the group of people. The state has provided state law instrument along with formal institution as the facilitator for resolving the freedom of religion conflict namely Religious Harmony Forum. In 2015, SETARA Institute recorded 196 religious freedom violation incidents with 236 form of action spread all around Indonesia.The mapping of religious freedom conflict covering the establishment of worship place, worship activity, and worship place management. The aim of this paper is to evaluating and founding appropriate dialogue model that suitable to the context and conflict need befell religious people or flow of beliefs. This research use qualitative method and socio legal approach that emphasize on empiric law antropologically. In the practice of the religious freedom, the dialogue model needs a certain and appropriate model that suitable for parties in conflict, conflict cause, and conflict location. During the time of religious freedom, conflict need a drag on thought energy and time. Therefore, dialogue model for overcoming freedom of religion conflict is not simple.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Communist Regime in Albania on Freedom of Religion for Albanians

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Renata Tokrri ◽  
Ismail Tafani ◽  
Aldo Shkembi
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

The multi religions Albania passed last century from a country where atheism was the constitutional principle in a country where the basic card guarantees not only the freedom of religion but also the freedom from religion. Today, in order of guaranteeing the freedom of belief, the Constitution of Republic of Albania expresses principles which protect the religious freedom, starting from its preamble. Indeed, the preamble has no legal force but stated goals and assists in the interpretation of provisions. The spirit, with which the preamble stated, is that of tolerance and religious coexistence, in a vision where the people are responsible for the future with faith in God or other universal values. This statement reinforces the principle of secularism of the state where the latter appears as the guarantor of religious freedom by knowing in this perspective the beliefs that "sovereign" could have and can develop. In this context, the real guarantee is given to us by Article 24 of the Constitution which expressly guarantees the freedom of conscience and religion, in a perspective where any person has the right to choose if changing or not his religion or belief, so that this article appears not only as a guarantor of freedom of religion but also as a guarantor of freedom from religion. In a context like that of Albania, where for 40 years the religious freedom has been denied, and because of religious beliefs was conducted genocide, cannot be missing in its Constitution this freedom. Today it appears more consolidated than ever, from a vision that guarantees such as the freedom to choose and change religion by manifesting them freely in public or in private life, into a vision that guarantees also negative freedom or atheism. The purpose of this paper is to point out that otherwise than the socialist Constitution of 1976- which provided anti-religious atheism forms  in a context where the faith was determined  by the state, based in a "monotheistic" ideology and realized through policy, which denied any type of faith beyond what the material world of communist ideology had in foundation-  the current one appears, secular and neutral in matters of religious faith by guaranteeing a as consequence the atheist beliefs as well.   Received: 21 November 2020 / Accepted: 11 January 2021 / Published: 17 January 2021

Freedom and Religion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Arneson
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
The Core ◽  
Special Protection

The core of freedom of religion is that individuals should be free to form their beliefs about religious matters (and other matters) against a wide, secure background regime of freedom of speech and expression and should be free to join together with like-minded others to worship and proselytize. Controversy about religion and freedom centers on the question whether religious freedom should receive special protection. One view is that religious freedom merits special accommodation. Another is that the state ought not to adopt policies that cannot be justified except by appeals to controversial religious claims, nor promote one type of religion or church over any other or over nonreligious beliefs, practices, and institutions; there should be no establishment of religion. This chapter suggests answers to both the accommodation issue and the establishment issue.

scholarly journals Kebebasan Beragama di Indonesia (Studi Jemaat Ahmadiyah dalam Perspektif Majelis Ulama Indonesia dan Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia)

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Anwar Nawawi
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The Public

This paper examines the meaning of religious freedom in Indonesia, the perspective of the Indonesian Ulema Council and the Indonesian National Commission especially in the context of Ahmadiyah. The essence of religion is freedom of religion. Therefore the state should protect the public interest, by guaranteeing the freedom of religion. But what happens in Indonesia as a nation state nempaknya will have difficulty to really fair to the minority. And in Indonesia Islam that becomes the majority often apply this way. This is as it is done with the flow of beliefs, or even against the Islamic groups themselves who call the Ahmadiyya school. Here there is a debate about the meaning of religious freedom between MUI and Komnas HAM. The focus of this paper is how is religious freedom in Indonesia in the perspective of MUI and Komnas HAM in the context of Ahmadiyya Jamaat?

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