Issue Of Religious Freedom Research Articles

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN US INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE AND HUMANITARIAN RELIEF: IDEAS, PRACTICE, AND ISSUES

In the development community, religious freedom issues have not generally been addressed as a separate or distinct issue, but rather within the broader construct of the role of human rights in development. A more focused approach is needed today. Religious freedom issues present some unique challenges and, while this set of rights is fundamentally an integral part of human rights more broadly, the distinctive elements that apply to religious freedom deserve more focus than they have received. The stakes are often high—and as such, distinctive and nuanced consideration of these issues needs to be better incorporated into development analyses, dialogues, education, and policy development processes.

Religious Freedom, the Good of Religion and the Common Good: The Challenges of Pluralism, Privilege and the Contraceptive Services Mandate

The right to religious freedom is properly grounded in religion’s status as a fundamental and irreducible human good, which is nevertheless related to other goods and social in character. Its protection for persons and groups is therefore also a component of the common good of political society. After arguing for these propositions on broadly Thomistic philosophical grounds, the article discuses and answers three recent challenges. The first is based on a perceived conflict between recognition of the good of religion and pluralism and I argue that this objection can be met by distinguishing between different kinds of pluralism, most of which pose no problem to the thesis. A second objection comes from those outside the Thomistic tradition, who either reject the status of religion as a good deserving of explicit legal recognition and protection or accept it on inadequate grounds. The objections, I argue, are based on accounts of religion that are inadequate to the role it plays in sound practical reason. Finally, I discuss an argument from those within the Thomistic tradition who accept some limitations on religious freedom in the name of the common good. This third challenge is linked to the current controversy over the application of the US federal government’s insurance mandate to religious organizations and the US Catholic bishops’ response to it as an issue of religious freedom. Here I argue that the objection is based on a misunderstanding and misapplication of Aquinas’s account.

Religious freedom in the light of the relationship between the Orthodox Church and the nation in contemporary Greece

The issue of religious freedom in contemporary Greece, constitutes a key element, or an indicator, that highlights a specific ethno-religious understanding of Orthodoxy and Greek identity, whereby the Church, the State and the transcendent ethnos are viewed as constituting an organic unity. It is against the complex background of historical contingencies that forged the religion–national identity link in Greece, and the ensuing legal framework of Church–State relations, that Greek specificity in the domains of management of religious pluralism, and religious minorities can be understood. This specific ethno-religious understanding has been constantly challenged, or questioned, directly or indirectly, by institutional mechanisms, such as the European Court for Human Rights, via the implementation of human rights. The entire problematic pertaining to religious freedom in Eastern Orthodox Greece, could be regarded as particularly emblematic of the broader problem of a shared value system between Western and Eastern Europe, and raises further the question whether there is a specific ‘Eastern Orthodox understanding’ of human rights.

Legal framework of freedom of religion in the Republic of Macedonia

Guarantee of freedom of religion and its regulation with international and regional legal instruments is undoubtedly the foundation of every modern democracy. However, elaborating freedom of conscience and religion has to be done within the framework of a positive legal system, i.e. Laws and the Constitution, which underlie the concept of organizing the state itself. Religious beliefs have been present for millenniums and their beginnings are in the very essence of both humans and communities, and even countries. The Republic of Macedonia along with all other states which were once part of the common Yugoslav federation has two periods of treatment of the issue of religious freedom, i.e. the freedom of conscience and religion. The well-known concept of separation of religious feelings from the state-legal system was practiced in the former common federation. Relying on that concept and upon gaining independence, the Republic of Macedonia has developed a different, primarily symbiotic blend of the state with its two biggest religious communities, thus attempting to deal with this extremely sensitive issue, more or less successfully, which is actually the basic principle of human freedoms.

The Courts and the Colonies: The Litigation of Hutterite Church Disputes (review)

Reviewed by: The Courts and the Colonies: The Litigation of Hutterite Church Disputes William Janzen The Courts and the Colonies: The Litigation of Hutterite Church Disputes. Alvin J. Esau. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2004. Pp. 400. $85.00 At the core of Alvin Esau's fine book is a dispute among several Hutterites about a patent for a hog-feeder. It appears that a Mr Hofer invented the device but that another colony, home to a Rev. Kleinsasser, leader of a broader grouping of the Hutterian Brethren Church, obtained the patent for it, thus gaining a lucrative business. Understandably, Mr Hofer and several people around him were upset. Internal efforts to resolve the dispute failed largely because they approached it as a question of insubordination rather than as one of who invented the hog-feeder. Before long the colony, supported by the broader grouping, excommunicated the Hofer group. This meant that they were required to leave the colony. When they refused, the leaders launched court action to have the police remove them by force. But Hofer's group then launched counterclaims. The ensuing actions were argued in Manitoba's courts for eight years. Esau's recounting of the legal issues in these complex developments is valuable in itself. But he does much more. Esau is interested in the issue of religious freedom, particularly for groups such as the Hutterites. He elaborates on their theologically-based pacifism and non-resistance, and on how they – like Mennonites and other groups who come from the Anabaptist wing of the sixteenth-century Reformation – have held that they should not rely on the power of the state. Esau notes how Hutterites and other groups have moved away from this principle. Hutterites, he says, have long been willing to use the courts to protect their way of life against governmental actions or actions by neighbours. Further, insurance companies covering Hutterites have taken legal action on their behalf. However, the practice whereby Hutterite leaders seek the power of the state to enforce a church order – in this case, the ban of excommunication – violates the principle of non-resistance in a more profound way. Esau shows that by so tenaciously drawing the courts into their affairs, Hutterite practices and procedures were scrutinized and evaluated in terms of 'outside law,' with the result that the regime of religious freedom that has made their life in Canada possible may have been weakened. In his concluding section, Esau describes four models for approaching the question of religious freedom. In the 'Outside Law Sovereignty' model, the law of the state is sovereign, with the result that 'inside law,' meaning laws that Hutterites might have internally, are dependent on the mercy of the state. Esau holds that this reflects the Canadian approach. In this model, 'inside law' is likely to be upheld to the extent [End Page 726] that it can be translated into 'outside law' categories such as contracts, trusts, and corporation by-laws. In the 'Outside Law Abstention' model, which Esau says is more characteristic of the US approach, courts will recognize certain ecclesiastical matters as falling within the sovereignty of the 'inside law' and will tend, therefore, to refrain from claiming jurisdiction. The third and fourth models, 'Outside Law Deference and Neutrality' and 'Balancing Outside and Inside Law,' combine elements of the first two in different ways. Esau says that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to the kind of 'private disputes' described in this book but that there are other disputes involving Hutterites to which the Charter would apply. Esau is apprehensive about whether it would support the regime of religious freedom that the Hutterite way of life requires. The Hutterites face other challenges too. One is the increased interaction with the larger society that follows from the increase in manufacturing done in Hutterite colonies. Another is the influence of groups such as the New England-based Bruderhof, seen as a source of renewal by some Hutterite leaders and as a cause of conflict by others. Esau's references to these factors in the social and economic context and his understanding of the theological issues supplement his thorough analysis of the legal issues and specifically the...

Constitutional Privilege and Constituting Pluralism: Religious Freedom in National, Global, and Legal Context

Lori Beaman argues that religious freedom in Canada and the United States is well established in theory (or myth) but limited in practice, privileging Protestantism in particular and varieties of Christianity in general. Focusing on the treatment of other religions in the courts of the two countries, she defends the hypothesis that these legal systems tend to reinforce the hegemony of Christianity, using this as an implicit model of what constitutes a religion, and thereby maintaining the marginalization and restricting the freedom of other religions. The present article sets Beaman's arguments in a wider global context, exploring the extent to which Christianity does and does not serve as a global standard for religion; and addressing the question of why issues of religious freedom so frequently end up being the subject of legal judgment and political decision. The main conclusions drawn from this global contextualization are that maintenance of some kind of religious hegemony is the rule all across global society, not just in Canada and the United States, and that unfettered freedom of religion or genuine religious pluralization is correspondingly rare, if it exists anywhere. Moreover, it is argued that such limitations, frequently expressed in legal judgments and political decisions, are more or less to be expected because they flow from the peculiar way that religion has been constructed in the modern and global era as both a privileged and privatized, as both an encompassing and marginalized social domain. The article thereby simultaneously reinforces and takes issue with Beaman's position: the modern and global reconstruction of religion invites its infinite pluralization at the same time as it encourages its politicization and practical restriction. Religions act as important resources both for claims to inclusion and for strategies of relative exclusion.

Religion and State in the Candidate Countries to the European Union: Issues concerning Religion and State in Hungary

Cyprus, Malta, and eight former Socialist Central-European countries are about to join the European Union. This vill result in a slight change in the religious composition of the enlarged Union as Muslims are hardly present and the proportion of Catholics is higher (and Protestants lower) in the candidate countries than in the member states. The “new democracies” have elaborated new systems of Church-State relations. Some have followed a two-tier system, differentiating between traditional or large religious communities and other religions; other countries, such as Hungary and Poland, have an equal system for all religious communities. Candidate countries are unlikely to acquire a bad record for issues of religious freedom, as they adopted their legislation in conformity to European human rights standards. All candidates to the 2004 enlargement, apart from Cyprus, have bilateral contractual relations with the Holy See. With an elaborated policy of neutrality, Hungary underlines the separation of Church and State to a greater extent than most other candidate countries. Separation in Hungary, however, does not rule out cooperation between State and Church or public support for Church institutions.

Social, Political, and Institutional Constraints on Religious Pluralism in Central Asia

During the second half of the 1990s, many of the post-Soviet states, after a brief flirtation with a religious free market, began to approve laws that curtailed some of the freedoms acquired in the first flush of independence. The paper examines the ways in which the five Central Asian States have handled the issue of religious freedom. Although many of the initial demands for restrictions on religious pluralism came from leaders of 'traditional' religions, these arguments have been reinforced by other arguments. On the one hand, the urge to control religious diversity is a product of an old Soviet mentality, but it also reflects wider religious and political concerns. These encompass public anxieties about the activities of poorly understood religious movements, political manipulation of religious 'threats' to justify authoritarianism, and nationalist concerns about religious diversity as a threat to social stability and the nation-building process. This paper explores the growing pressures on religious pluralism in Central Asia (with special reference to the experience of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan) focusing on the social, political, and institutional constraints that appear to be driving the revitalisation of state control over religious life.

Prophets, “False Prophets,” and the African State: Emergent Issues of Religious Freedom and Conflict

Prophets, “False Prophets,” and the African State: Emergent Issues of Religious Freedom and Conflict

On religious freedom and civic learning

In this article I look at the issue of religious freedom in today's world. It is clear that religious and ethnic divisions have led to much bloodshed in recent years. I look at the implications that recent developments have for the way we educate in religion, religious tolerance and religious freedom.

Die reg op godsdiensvryheid in Suid-Afrikaanse skole

The right to religious freedom in South African schoolsIn general, religion is to be regarded as one of the most important aspects of human life and as one of the key human functions that distinguishes a human being from the rest of creation. For this reason, religious freedom is deemed by many to be the “first liberty" to be protected by any Bill of Rights. However, protecting everyone’s religious freedom on an equal and equitable basis is sometimes easier said than done. In the USA, for instance, in an effort to protect the religious rights and freedom of all, a wall of separation between state and religion was implemented on the basis of the US "establishment clause”: the American State is compelled to maintain a neutral stance as far as religious matters are concerned. In the eyes of some representatives of the US academe, this approach to the protection of religious freedom ultimately led to the US government’s becoming the “enemy of religion” in American schools. In the 1998 case of Wittmann v Deutscher Schulverein, Pretoria the court confirmed that the drafters of the South African constitution steered the issue of religious freedom on a different course to that of the United States. In Wittmann it was held that the South African constitution did not create a wall of separation between church and state (i.e. schools) and that it is the constitutional right of every person (i.e. the learner and the teacher) at school to "entertain such beliefs as a person chooses". The court also held that everyone at school has the right to confess his/her faith and to participate freely in religious worship and religious practice (and even teach and disseminate religion) at school.

Reports from the Trenches: A Case Study of Religious Freedom Issues Faced by Wiccans Practicing in the United States

Reports from the Trenches: A Case Study of Religious Freedom Issues Faced by Wiccans Practicing in the United States

Economic forecasting: the state of the art

Much has been written about the issue of religious freedom and church-state relations. The contributors to this book, however, take up another side of the question: what has been the impact of religion on human rights. Representatives from various religious traditions address a broad range of topics, from environmental rights to the basic validation of human rights, to the rights of women in India and Iran and within Orthodox Judaism, to the global imposition of criminal justice, to pressures for democratization within the Catholic Church in Latin America. The six major essays, along with their accompanying replies answer questions and raise issues in a provocative and compelling debate.

An Economic Approach to Issues of Religious Freedom

An Economic Approach to Issues of Religious Freedom