Pluralism, Secularism and The European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The Article 9 religious freedom jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights most basically concerns the question of religious pluralism. The “principle of pluralism seems to be the main—the core—principle” guiding the Court's religious freedom jurisprudence, argues one of the Court's judges. Assessing the Court's work in the area of religious freedom therefore requires considering its treatment of pluralism, which is the concept most often employed to interpret Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court's approach to religious pluralism is still heavily indebted to the decision inKokkinakis v. Greece, a 1993 case involving a Jehovah's Witness who had been repeatedly arrested and jailed for violating Greece's prohibition on proselytism. In the majority opinion finding that Mr. Kokkinakis's Article 9 rights had been violated, the Court writes the following: