Recognition, Registration and Autonomy of Religious Groups: European Approaches and their Human rights Implications

Abstract

The issue of freedom of association is inextricably linked with the freedoms enjoyed by organized religious groups. This paper looks at European approaches to religious registration/recognition and the related issue of religious autonomy while examining some of their human rights implications. The section on registration looks predominantly at Central and Eastern European states, as it is chiefly in those states that registration of religious organizations is regulated by means of elaborate – even intricate – laws on religious association. The section on church autonomy looks predominantly at Western European examples; although this issue gives rise to contentious human rights debates in virtually all parts of the world, Western European states in particular have recently sought to come to terms with this issue through complicated – and not completely transparent – domestic regulation.