Freedom Of Conscience Research Articles

Relationship between human rights and freedoms and islam in arab countries

The article compares the Medina Agreement of 622 A.D. and modern Arab constitutions in the light of human rights issues. The Medina Agreement did not have a significant impact on the subsequent constitutional development in the Arab world, however, as the author shows, questions of the legal status of a person arise in Islam immediately after the Hegira. Muhammad strove to reconcile among themselves the representatives of different confessions (Muslims, Christians and Jews) who inhabited Medina at that time, and to establish the state on a solid foundation of true faith. A similar problem exists in Arab countries today, when, on the one hand, Islam is declared the state religion, and on the other, freedom of conscience is declared, subject to respect for the laws, morals and customs of a particular state.

СВОБОДА СОВЕСТИ В ПОСТКЛАССИЧЕСКОМ ХРИСТИАНСТВЕ

СВОБОДА СОВЕСТИ В ПОСТКЛАССИЧЕСКОМ ХРИСТИАНСТВЕ

John Crell on Religious Tolerance and Salvation

The essay discusses the defense of religious tolerance presented in Johann Crell’s treatise On Freedom of Conscience, pointing to the tension between Christian exclusivism on the one hand and religious practicalism and rationalism on the other inherent in Crell’s views. This tension can be resolved by adopting theistic minimalism or extreme practicalism.

The Orthodox Church and Education in Belarus as a Reflection of the Specific Pattern of Church-State Relations

This paper1 discusses the development of cooperation between the Orthodox Church and educational establishments in Belarus. The first Agreement on Cooperation between the Ministry of Education and the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC) was signed in 1994, several years before the adoption of a new Law on the Freedom of Conscience and the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation between the Church and the State. Although many objectives, stated in the first Agreement, were not met on time, there was a continuing and mutually beneficial cooperation between the Ministry and the BOC since then, with a series of Programmes of Cooperation, signed every 2-4 years. The Orthodox Church is the only religious denomination in Belarus which concludes Programmes of Cooperation with the Ministry of Education; however, one cannot claim that the general legislative framework is particularly favourable for this Church. Indeed, there are some restrictions, limiting the presence of the BOC and its representatives in educational establishments. Also, the Church has not managed to get the inclusion of the “Foundations of Orthodox Culture” and related courses in the curriculum. At the same time, these courses can be taught as optional subjects, at the request of parents. In addition, the BOC is able to organise various cooperation with educational establishments (seminars, lectures, regular talks, etc.); however, the scope and intensity of this cooperation largely depend on the will of the schools’ administration to interact with the Orthodox Church.

The Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014-2022: Monitoring of state-confessional relations in Ukraine

The article examines the changes that have taken place in religious life in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In particular, it describes how the unlawful forceful occupation of the territory of a sovereign state has led to the restructuring of the Ukrainian confessional landscape and mass migration of Ukrainian confessionals of different faiths. Based on data from open sources, the authors present the position of the most influential confessions in Ukraine and their leaders on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The authors prove that the war-affected intensification of the identification processes in the religious segment of Ukrainian society has affected state-confessional relations in the country, and now society needs clear, consolidating messages from the state more than ever. The recommendations provided by the authors determine that the state and religious organisations ought to dynamically strengthen their partnership, develop new forms of relations, and jointly preserve religious pluralism and freedom of religion. The issues of state re-registration of all religious structures of Ukraine, including their social characteristics and the nature of relations with foreign religious centres, and creating a public Scientific Expert Council on security in the humanitarian sphere are also being considered. In order to protect the national information and spiritual environment, the state initiated the study of confessional periodicals of Ukraine and printed materials imported from abroad for distribution among Ukrainian religious believers. The state, according to the authors of the article, has to initiate amendments to the current Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations that exercises the principle of religious separation of the church from the state and school, as well as the establishment of penalties for religious activities that harm the national and state security of the Ukrainian people.

Orientalist Ambivalence

This article compares the first two Dutch translations of the Qur’an printed in the Dutch Republic: De Arabische Alkoran (1641) published by Barent Adriaensz Berentsma and Mahomets Alkoran (1657) published by Jan Rieuwertsz. It builds upon previous bibliographic research by quantifying the abbreviation of the Surahs in the two editions, identifying the sources of the paratexts, and describing the different strategies for translation. This analysis reveals how different editing choices reflect contradictory ideological attitudes among the publishers and translators involved. These producers of the first Qur’an translations echoed the widespread hostility towards Islam in Western discourses while also highlighting the peaceful nature of Muhammad and the similarities between the Bible and the Qur’an. This ‘Orientalist ambivalence’ not only resonated in local debates about freedom of conscience among Amsterdam Mennonites, but also signalled a more fundamental epistemological uncertainty following the rise of Cartesianism in the Dutch Early Enlightenment.

The Margin of Appreciation in Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion under Article 9 of ECHR

Abstract This article analyses the manner in which the margin of appreciation has been developed by the European Court of Human Rights in Article 9 cases. As a principle of subsidiarity European Convention States Parties enjoy a margin of appreciation but its scope varies according to particular principles. It is generally certain, when a proportionality test applies (eg concerning proselytism, places and buildings of worship, legal recognition of religious communities, prisoners’ rights), narrow, when the Court has already formulated specific interpretational criteria (eg concerning State’s interference with the internal affairs/dissolution of a religious community or restrictions sought by religious employers), or wide, when there is no widespread consensus and State authorities are in a better place to determine on the matter (eg levying of church taxes, freedom of religion in workplace, public places, and educational institutions). This article appraises the rationale and circumstances which produce particular outcomes with a view to increasing predictability and consistent practice by States.

The Godly and Their Neighbours: Puritanism and Religious Pluralism in Early Modern England

This essay surveys the relationship between puritanism and religious pluralism between 1559 and 1642. It examines the contradictory instincts towards inclusion and exclusion that were central to its dynamic throughout this period, as well as the tension between its commitment to reforming the Church of England from within and the emphasis on social separatism that pulled it in the direction of congregationalism. It also explores puritan attitudes to popery, heresy, and unbelief and puritanism’s contribution towards critiques of persecution and calls for toleration and liberty of conscience in the mid seventeenth century. Its aim is to tease out some of the intriguing paradoxes of this religious movement and outlook.

Религиозная ситуация в Тольятти на примере Русской православной церкви (1988–1997 гг.)

Introduction. The article examines the religious situation and activities of Orthodox religious organizations, as well as changes in state-church relations in 1988–1997 on the example of Togliatti. The correlation between official religious policy and its concrete implementation on the ground is analyzed. The purpose of the article is to study the nature and assess the results of state-church relations in Togliatti after the adoption of the new Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988, the USSR Law “On freedom of conscience and religious organizations” since October 1, 1990. The chronological framework of the study covers the years 1988–1997, since during this period it is possible to analyze how the church policy was carried out in this area after the adoption of the new Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church, the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience” conscience and religious organizations”dated October 1, 1990. Methods and materials. The purpose of the article was achieved using archival documents and materials from periodicals. The research methodology includes the method of document analysis, and when working with periodic materials, the method of synchronous comparison with documentary material was used. Analysis. In 1988, there was only 1 registered religious community in Togliatti in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. In 1989–1997, it was possible to organize 7 Orthodox parishes in different districts of the city, 1 monastery, and 3 house churches. Despite the difficult times of crisis, their material base grew stronger. Since the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, many Orthodox parishes have received serious assistance from the state and government bodies, representatives of industry, banking capital and business. Results. The article states that, despite the formal separation of religious organizations from the state, the ROC got preferences in the form of direct budgetary financing of church construction, attracting sponsorship funds through state institutions for the same temple construction, and creating charitable foundations in the center and locally.

Confessing Faith: Freedom of Conscience, Actualized Confession of Faith, and Confessional Allegiance

This paper draws on the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck's (1854–1921) views of conscience and confession of faith to articulate a dynamic view of confessing faith with a free conscience. It will argue that a genuine ecclesial confession must be coupled with the believer's free conscience in the actualized confession of faith in Christ in obedience to the word of God. This dynamic view of actualized confession—that is, confessing faith in one's life as a whole—indicates that faith incorporates not only the life in the ecclesial community but also life in the world. As such, although different churches uphold different written forms of confession of faith, actualized confession of faith assimilates the differentiation of confessional texts—being made there and then—into the consensus of confessing faith in Christ being reached here and now. The emphasis of actualized confession of faith on “here and now” will benefit the contemporary ecumenical movement.

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCE AND THE COMMON GOOD: REFLECTION ON TOLERATION AND PARTICIPATION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA AND INDONESIA

This paper seeks to discuss the extent to which religious differences can contribute to the promotion of the common good. It asks if the religious difference is sufficient for the states and the societies to attain the common good across religious and ethical persuasions in multi-faith countries such as America and Indonesia. It is primarily an ethical-philosophical question but is also related to historical, sociological, anthropological, and political contexts. For many religious people, religious particularity and distinction – including its truth and superiority claims – is a significant element of identity and sense of morality, but religious difference alone is insufficient for attaining the common good. Religions provide motivations to act good or evil. Religions offer rich resources, be doctrinal, narrative, experiential and emotional, ethical, legal, social, material, or political, but because there are many, often conflicting religious and ethical values from within the same and across religious traditions, it is not enough for everyone to share their beliefs and accept each other’s exclusive claims. For religions to help improve the public good, religious agents have to negotiate their particular and distinct identities and universal moralities and reinterpret their beliefs and norms contextually in light of the plural societies in which they live. The governments should also allow multiple voices, including the religious, by ensuring toleration, freedom of conscience and worship, and right of assembly.

Un Maestro per le giovani generazioni di studiosi di diritto ecclesiastico e di diritto ecclesiale, che si pongono domande più che offrire risposte (a proposito della raccolta di saggi, Lo spirito del diritto ecclesiale. Scritti scelti di R. Bertolino)

A leading guide for the new generations of Ecclesiastical and Canon Law scholars, the ones who got questions instead of offering answers
 ABDTRACT: These brief notes just pretend to suggest some issues concerning a deepened anthology of essays written by an influential scholar, presented and collected by his colleagues of different approaches and generations. It definitely means to underline peculiar and still not completely explored issues in both Ecclesiastical and Canon Law: the liberty of conscience and the importance of religious freedom in defending fundamental human rights, the scientific purpose to investigate and analyse the still ongoing relevance of a renewed "Church" for a changing world. Rinaldo Bertolino's thoughts seem in this sense a gift to the youngest scholars, encouraging them to have more questions than answers.

The new Colombian law on abortion.

On February 21, 2022, the Colombian Constitutional Court decided that the existing regulation of abortion was unconstitutional and repealed it (Sentencia C-055/2022). The new abortion law, as per the Court's decision, considers the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy a crime only when it happens after week 24 and does not fall under the health, rape, or malformation indications developed through precedent from 2006 to 2022. The decision is generally binding and of immediate application. The decision's rationale builds on the right to health, substantive equality, and freedom of conscience. It acknowledges severe restrictions in access to abortion faced by Colombian women and the costs these restrictions have on their lives. It also recognizes that the indications model forces women to obtain permission from medical doctors to access abortion, and thus fails to recognize women's freedom of conscience.

Review: Religious Confession and Evidential Privilege in the 21st Century, edited by Mark Hill QC and A. Keith Thompson

This book of essays investigates legislative and judicial trends toward abrogating the confidentiality of religious confession in Australia, Europe, and the United States. The larger issues, of course, are freedom of conscience and the limits the state may try to impose upon religious groups, most particularly in cases of child abuse. The three essays in Part I criticize the recommendations of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which advised states to remove legal protections for confessions made within a religious setting. Part II considers examples from Europe, where, given the establishment of religion, canon law was part of state codes. Confessional privilege there was largely sacrosanct until the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Part III examines the situation in the United States. Clergy sexual misconduct has driven state legislatures to remove confessional protections, and led to a general decline of religious freedom in that nation.Of particular interest to readers of Nova Religio may be the final essay in the book, which argues that the Church of Scientology has a legitimate claim of confidentiality to shield communications between parishioners and ministers. Since Scientology auditors perform the traditional role of ministers, learning private and personal information in the process of aiding self-realization or problem-solving, auditing meets all the requirements for constitutional protection.The contributors to this volume all view the erosion of confessional privilege as an attack on the free exercise of religion. The editors decry the West’s “growing disinterest in freedom of conscience and religion” and point to its neglect of “Uighur Muslims in China, Rohinga Muslims in Myanmar, Bahais in Iran, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia and Christians in general in Iraq” (15). Readers interested in issues of religion and law and the protection of religious rights will want to read this book.

In search for the grave monument of the Professor-surgeon E. G. Salischev (part 2)

Reliance on authentic sources and the latest research allows the authors of the paper to characterize the Ioanno-Predtechensky Convent and the conventual cemetery. They write about most prominent citizens of Tomsk of the end 19th – beginning 20th century, including Professors of Imperial Tomsk University E.G. Salishchev, P.S. Klimentov, D.I. Timofeyevsky, who were buried in convent. According to the Decree on Freedom of Conscience, Church and Religious Societies, adopted by the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia in 1918, the convent was closed, and the creation of a campus (studgorodok) began on its territory. In 1930, the local authorities decided to destroy the cemetery, and use the grave monuments for new construction. The authors found out that in mid-1950s a large 4-storey house was built on the cemetery site. Not a single burial or grave monument, except for Potanin’s ash, could be preserved. The authors believe that the monument to all those buried in the convent is the chapel of St. Domna Tomskaya, consecrated in 1996.

Counter-terrorism, Discrimination, and Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion, or Belief

This article discusses the impact of religion-centric counter-terrorism trends on peoples’ enjoyment of freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief (FoRB). It underlines that everyone should be able to access this human right equally without discrimination, regardless of their convictions, but that this is not always the case. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) comprehensive security model, which considers human security alongside more conventional politico-military, environmental, and economic aspects, can be used to assess the quality and sustainability of security offered by contemporary counter-terrorism measures and provides a useful benchmark for state action in this area.

Moral and legal principles of protection of civilians during the war (in the context of Russian aggression in 2022)

The fundamental human rights universally recognized in international law are, in particular: the right to life; the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to privacy, personal and family secrecy, protection of one’s honor and dignity, freedom of conscience and religion, etc. During hostilities, these fundamental values are particularly vulnerable, and their adherence to military conflict is directly dependent on the motives and moral preconditions for such aggression. The norms of international humanitarian law establish appropriate prohibitions or restrictions on the use of certain means and methods of armed struggle, ensuring the protection of victims of conflict and determining the responsibility for violating these norms. International humanitarian law is based on the principle of distinction between combatants and non-combatants, in connection with which the article pays special attention to the protection of the civilian population and the moral and legal components of such protection. Analyzing the convention agreements on the protection of civilians and victims of war, one can observe such fundamental moral components of their rights as life, respect, freedom of conscience and religion, prohibition of torture and humiliation, humane treatment, protection during hostilities and more. In particular, the UN International Court of Justice has repeatedly deduced the responsibilities of the parties to a military conflict from such a general principle of law as the “basic principles of humanity”.Article 3 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War provides for a minimum commitment of the parties in the event of armed conflict to non-combatants, including the following acts against the above: personality, including all forms of murder, mutilation, ill-treatment and torture; b) hostage-taking; c) abuse of human dignity, in particular abusive and degrading treatment; d) the conviction and application of punishment without a prior judgment rendered by a court duly established and providing judicial guarantees recognized by civilized peoples as necessary. It is well known that the attitude of the Russian aggressor towards the peaceful Ukrainian civilian population in its barbarism is not limited to the usual understanding of human rights violations and the principle of humanism during armed conflict. In view of this, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution “On the Statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine” On the Russian Federation’s Genocide in Ukraine “”, which recognizes the actions committed by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and its political and military leadership during the last phase of against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, with the genocide of the Ukrainian people. This takes into account the consistency and systemic policy of the Russian Federation aimed at mass extermination of the population of Ukraine, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the elimination of national statehood of Ukraine. Key words: war, armed conflict, genocide, dignity, humanism, morality, respect, human rights, civilian population

In Search of Justice and Peace: Benedict XVI’s Questions to the Cultures and Religions of the World

In a series of addresses, commencing with the Regensburg address in 2006, Benedict XVI engaged the cultures and religions of the world with perennial questions concerning the rationality of reason, the catalyst for culture, the ethical foundations of political decisions, and the legality of law. In the answers he provided, which emanate from the Christian tradition’s equation of the God of Jesus Christ, the God of love, with the God of the philosophers—the logos (λόγος)—Benedict invited his audiences to reassess the rationality and reasonableness of reason. Illustrating the interlinked nature of reason and truth, Benedict details the horizon of reality opened by an expansive understanding of reason, that of creative eternal reason. He challenges others to reflect on the presuppositions and implications of their own understanding of reason. On what basis is reason rational? What makes an argument reasonable? Benedict forthrightly acknowledges that religions have been a source of violence which he sees as resulting from the absence of reason. He insists that it is a reason informed by the great religious traditions that forms the basis for dialogue among the cultures and religions of the world. In those dialogues, Benedict maintains that freedom of conscience and freedom of religion play an essential and indispensable role.

Wedding Crashers: an Epistemological Model for When Refusal to Provide Service to Protected Groups Is Not Wrongful Discrimination

Abstract The question of the relation between wrongful discrimination and the freedom of conscience and religion has been the subject of many debates over the past decade and has occupied both courts and the public. The most well-known legal case in that regard is likely Masterpiece Cakeshop, in which a Colorado bakery owner refused to bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple and was sued for violating the State’s Anti-Discrimination law. Recently, the Supreme Court of the U.S has agreed to hear yet another Colorado case, 303 Creative llc v. Elenis, in which a website designer wanted to post a message saying she will not design websites for same-sex weddings. The purpose of our article is to point to a significant distinction between a refusal to serve clients on the basis of their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., and a refusal to serve them because such service requires the providers to engage in activities or projects to which they deeply oppose. We think the latter case, sometimes, might not at all be discrimination. Importantly, we distinguish between a deep objection to the content of the service or product requested and a rejection of the client because of her characteristics. How can a supplier prove that his or her refusal to serve a client belonging to a “protected class” is based on the content of the product or service requested and not on the client’s characteristics? We formulate a two-prong test that courts in the US and UK have implicitly adopted. We ask, first, whether the supplier would refuse the same service to a client not belonging to the protected class, and second, whether the supplier would serve the same client (belonging to a protected class) with other products and services. If the answer to both questions is positive, then the supplier’s refusal is not wrongful discrimination because it shows an objection to the product or service requested and not a rejection of the client. In practice, this test is not always easy to apply. We therefore developed an epistemological model to substantiate the conditions that may help providers persuade the courts that their refusal to serve a client stems from the content of the request, not from the client’s identity.

EUROPE, RELIGIONS AND STATE MODERNITY: MENDELSSOHN’S VISION

Religious ideas and beliefs not only suggest spiritual life, but inspire everyday life, the collective psyche. As for the elites, they can be better understood by the acknowledgement of both discontinuity (due to time and vocabulary) and continuity of their spiritual and cultural preoccupations. Moses Mendelssohn asserted a side of modernity without distancing from community culture limited to its own set of values. He was not free in relation to the traditions and history of his own community, and especially to religious dogma. In fact, Mendelssohn, in his own philosophy, associated the principles of the Old World to those of the new reality. On one hand, he was enticed by emancipation, civism and modernity, and on the other by the preservation of Jewish identity according to the ancient myths. Even if he was an enlightened spirit in the way he regarded the integration of Jews or social emancipation in general, Mendelssohn was not an advocate of interferences (of inter-culturality). He was not a successor of those free, open and creative Marranos of the fifteenth century – Spanish Jews converted to Christianity, preserving a part of old Judaic practices – and neither a follower of Spinoza’s new philosophy. Not incidentally, Voltaire better understood human nature, being a humanist in all aspects. The freedom of conscience could not and still cannot ignore the diversity of people and human groups, and neither can the associations or interferences among them who, in modernity, needed to cohabitate and cooperate, not only in order to survive, but to generate universal values.