Principle Of Religious Freedom Research Articles

Religious Tolerance Model of Society in Jepara: Principles Analysis of Freedom, Acceptance, and Trust

Religious tolerance supports the conduciveness of society. This has far more impact on a religious country like Indonesia than it does on a secular one. In a religious country, religion has two sides, namely functional and dysfunctional. The functional side of religion can create peace. Conversely, the dysfunctional side of religion can lead to conflict in society. This study aims to analyze the model of religious tolerance that has developed in Jepara society. This research is a field research with a qualitative approach. Data collection techniques were carried out using semi-structured interviews with purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman's data analysis framework. The results of this study show that the Jepara people have a strong tolerance value. The religious tolerance of the Jepara people turns out to have three main principles, namely the principle of religious freedom, the principle of acceptance, and the principle of positive thinking and trustworthiness. These principles then become a separate model in the implementation of religious tolerance in Jepara society. This model of tolerance is able to support religious conduciveness which then has an impact on the conduciveness of various aspects, such as social aspects.

Internalization of Religious Tolerance Through Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Kendal’s Art Performances

The intolerance symptoms in several regions of Indonesia are increasingly worrying as transnational actions proliferate. However, in some remote villages of Java island, cultural and Islamic spiritual capitals are still found, manifested through various local pearls of wisdom in performing arts, as seen in the Cacaban community, Singorojo, and Kendal Regency. Skills can be used as media for cross-cultural dialogues between Islam and Java to build harmony. This study examines the debate between Islamic values and Javanese cultures to find an accommodative model of acculturation between Islam and Javanese wisdom in cultivating the values of tolerance in moderate religious life. This study implements a qualitative-ethnographic-interpretive approach based on the phenomenological hermeneutic paradigm. It shows that the patterns of cross-cultural dialogue in Cacaban Kendal society are carried out through Jaran Kepang, Karawitan, and Wayang Orang performances. Meanwhile, the reproduction of cultural acculturation is found explicitly in the praxis of life in the form of world views; beliefs or ideology; social attitudes; rites or ceremonies; social principles, norms, and regulations; habits, and behavior in social interactions. The internalization of the tolerance system can be categorized into three main principles, namely: (1) the principle of religious freedom, (2) the principle of respect for the existence of other religions, and (3) the principle of freedom in doing good things and being fair to everyone.

Religious Freedom in English Schools: Neoliberal Legality and the Reconfiguration of Choice

This paper considers how the longstanding liberal principle of freedom of religion in education in England was recontextualised within a marketised system of school choice. First, the potential conflict between the right to freedom of belief and to education is outlined. The notion of neoliberal legalism is explored, first in identifying and defining neoliberalism as a model of regulation by market forces, then in outlining ‘neoliberal legality’, as the manifestation of this approach in law. Next, the paper presents a narrative account of the development in England of the principle of religious freedom in education up to the Education Act 1944. The neoliberal turn is considered, in the 1988 Education Reform Act and subsequent legislation, showing how while the provision remains, religion is effectively one marker of school choice and strategic school selection, rather than purely a fundamental personal freedom. This is discussed in relation to neoliberal recontexualisation of existing law, and the neoliberal governance of religions.

Cursing the Sacred:

Islam and blasphemy have repeatedly emerged as the center of Indonesian public discourse and debate after the fall of Suharto. The debate becomes intense in a democratic society when people feel free to speak and deliver their opinions. When their speeches and opinions are regarded to have offences against a particular religion, the followers will protest against them. In Indonesia, these offences can be brought to court due to the presence of the blasphemy law in the Indonesian Criminal Code. Some scholars and religious leaders believe that the law have to be removed because it is not compatible with the principles of religious freedom and democracy. Others believe the law have to be defended because it is needed to regulate religious lives and maintain religious tolerance in the society. This article will investigate the diverse opinions among Muslim activists and leaders from various Muslim organizations including Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah. This article attempts to answer two questions of what are the social and cultural backgrounds of the debates on blasphemy and how religious freedom is defined through these debates in contemporary Indonesia? The data are collected from the document and the recorded video of the judicial review of the blasphemy law in Indonesian constitutional court in 2010 and the interviews concerning the decision of the judicial review. This article suggests that religious freedom is limited by the majority of opinions in favor with the blasphemy law which discriminate free speech and religious minority groups

The Project of Return to Sepharad in the Nineteenth Century by Mónica Manrique (review)

Reviewed by: The Project of Return to Sepharad in the Nineteenth Century by Mónica Manrique Nitai Shinan Mónica Manrique. The Project of Return to Sepharad in the Nineteenth Century. Translated by Justin Peterson. Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2020. 96 pp. doi:10.1017/S036400942100043X Contemporary Spain (1808 to the present) has dealt with two main "Jewish questions": the reevaluation or rehabilitation of the Jewish medieval past by historians and intellectuals, and the process of establishment, legalization, and legitimization of newly founded Jewish communities in a predominantly Catholic country, which until 1869 outlawed all other religious faiths. These questions were only on rare occasions investigated by academic research until the last two decades of the twentieth century. Historians of the Jewish people had not been interested in researching Spanish history of the period after the Spanish Crown burnt the last Judaizers in the second and third decades of the eighteenth century, which left the country without any trace of Judaism. Historians of contemporary Spain, on the other hand, have not viewed the Jewish question as vital to understanding the transformations and vicissitudes which befell the troubled state. In other words, nineteenth-century Spanish Jewish history has been neglected. More recently, the shift in academic research towards issues related to the representation of historical minorities in Spanish historical thought started to draw investigators to researching the place of Jews and Judaism in contemporary Spain. While considerable interest has focused on the contemporary Spanish reinterpretation of the Jewish medieval past, as much as to the history of the establishment of Jewish communities on Iberian soil, very few studies raised the question of how the changes in nineteenth-century Spain were interpreted by European Jewish communities. Apart from the pioneering articles of Joseph Lichtenstein, [End Page 505] which were published in Hebrew in the beginnings of the 1970s,1 I do not know of any study of the subject. Mónica Manrique therefore should be praised for her innovative decision to dedicate her research to an almost unknown subject. The author limited her monograph to a very short time period, no longer than two years (1868–1869), and for good reason. These two years hold great significance in Spanish history, as they were the first of the so-called Six Democratic Years, a period when Spain endeavored but failed to establish a stable liberal democratic regime. The overthrow of Queen Isabel II's regime in September 1868 encouraged the Spanish liberals to implement democratic and liberal reforms even before the Spanish revolutionary parliament (the Cortes) sanctioned them. The principle of religious freedom was thus fully implemented and the Protestant religion was exercised in public in the months following the revolution. Even the new conservative regime of 1876 did not relinquish the worship rights of other religions and only limited them to the private sphere. Noticing the changes in the Protestant camp, Manrique endeavored to find Jewish reactions to these political changes in Spain. Did Jewish communities or organizations seek to encourage Jewish immigration to Spain in light of this newly proclaimed religious liberty? Did they assist those Jews already in Spain to establish new communities, or were their reactions less enthusiastic and more cautious? In order to answer the questions, the author made extensive use of the main organs of the French and German Jewish press, mainly the periodicals Archives israélites or L'univers israélite, and to a lesser extent some archival material. Reading this interesting analysis leaves the reader disappointed. It seems that the new period of openness between the Spanish government and the Jews did not bring changes in the life of the Jews in Spain. After the revolution, enthusiastic or positive views of the political changes in Spain were expressed by commentaries in the Jewish press. However, as time passed the tone of articles became much more cautious and skeptical. While some authors speculated about the possibility of the Jews returning to Spain, later articles warned about the negative attitudes of the Spanish people towards Jews and their religious fanaticism. The author also encountered this opinion in an original letter written by an unknown French Jewish traveler, Agustín Schwob. He warned Adolphe Cremieux, president of the...

A declaração Dignitatis Humanae e o entendimento de John Finnis sobre a liberdade religiosa

Este artigo almeja incentivar o leitor a aprofundar sua compreensão acerca dos elementos da Lei natural presentes no pensamento de John Finnis, principalmente no que concerne ao direito humano da liberdade religiosa. Isso se deve ao fato desse autor apresentar uma perspectiva única sobre a religião, de maneira a considerá-la como um dos bens humanos fundamentais básicos. Antes de ser um direito humano protegido em tratados internacionais e nas Constituições de diversos países, a religião, de acordo com sua teoria, é um bem humano que deve ser protegido. Tal proteção é imprescindível para o cumprimento de todas as potencialidades de cada ser humano, para que seja possível atingir o seu florescimento humano e, assim também, o bem comum. Dessa forma, será discutido neste trabalho se a liberdade religiosa, sob a ótica de John Finnis, é universal e se deveria assim, ser endossada e aplicada universalmente em todo o mundo, utilizando como exemplo, o documento do Concílio do Vaticano II – Dignitatis Humanae (1965). Ainda, será realizada uma análise bibliográfica das obras desse autor que versam sobre este tema a fim de identificar quais são, e se existem, princípios da liberdade religiosa que são universalmente aplicáveis no mundo inteiro e, principalmente no Ocidente. Dessa forma, a partir da identificação desses princípios será reconhecida a relevância da proteção e incentivo ao exercício desse direito no espaço público, diante do caráter natural relativo ao bem humano da religião, tendo em vista a teoria apresentada por John Finnis.

Grounding Religious Toleration: Kant and Wolff on Dogmatic Conflict

This article examines Paul Guyer’s claim that we should attempt to ground the principle of religious freedom on the basis of Kant’s arguments for religious liberty. I problematise Guyer’s suggestion by investigating a hypothetical ‘dogmatic conflict’ between a scientifically and a religiously grounded belief. I further suggest that considering Christian Wolff’s philosophy might provide us with an approach which shares the benefits that Guyer identifies in Kant, while at the same time avoiding the issues Kant might run into that result from the occurrence of the dogmatic conflict. I start by providing a background to Wolff’s philosophy and explaining the notion of the dogmatic conflict. Then I present a potential contemporary case of the dogmatic conflict and try to see how it would be dealt with based on Guyer’s proposal. Finally, I consider what a Wolffian solution would look like, arguing that Guyer’s project might benefit from considering Wolff.

The Umma in Italy: Eurocentric Pluralism, Local Legislation, Courts’ Decisions. How to Make the Right to Worship Real

Abstract The article describes the making of the right of worship of Muslim minorities in Europe and its current difficulties, presenting and commenting on the emblematic example of local legislation concerning the building of new mosques in northern Italy. Controlling norms arise from recent decisions of the Italian Constitutional Court. The Court declared unconstitutional certain provisions of two regional laws approved by the Lombardy region (2/2015) and the Veneto region (12/2016), which imposed very strict conditions for the opening, approval and use of mosques. In particular, the Court declared unconstitutional norms that—with regard to the building of places of worship—introduced certain conditions for groups with an agreement with the State and different conditions for those without. Moreover, the Court declared unconstitutional the principle that all religious services that take place in a building open to public should be conducted in Italian. The basic assumption of the article is that current discrimination is the combined result of anti-migration sentiment and Islamophobic prejudices, and the consequence of the Eurocentric nature of the principle of religious freedom. A historically-oriented pluralism and multilevel (national) enforcement of freedom of religion seem to be huge obstacles to the implementation of the right to worship for Muslims in Europe and Italy.

American Religious Liberty: An International Perspective

This Article compares United States religious freedom jurisprudence with prevailing international human rights norms. I distill these international religious freedom norms and evaluate how selected US Supreme Court cases both follow and depart from these norms. Part I identifies six principles of religious freedom defended by the American framers who crafted the First Amendment in 1791: liberty of conscience; free exercise of religion; religious pluralism; religious equality; separation of church and state; and no establishment of religion. Part II summarizes the mostly parallel norms of religious freedom in the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, and the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document. Part III shows how the US Court’s cases on freedom of conscience, free exercise, and religious equality compare favorably to international standards, although some religious minorities have often not fared well. Some of the Court’s cases defending the principle of separation of church and state mesh well with international concerns for religious autonomy. But the Court’s establishment clause cases have gone well beyond international norms in expunging religion from public schools and removing state aid for religious groups and services. The Article concludes that religious freedom remains a strong constitutional value in American law and culture, but it needs to be better integrated; international religious freedom norms offer valuable lessons to that end.

Shūkyōhōjinhō oraz Nihonkokukenpō – fundamentalne podstawy prawne realizacji wolności religijnej w Japonii

This paper presents the analysis of chosen Japanese legal provisions, in which the principle of religious freedom is reflected. The author discusses in details legal regulations, which form the basis of the religious freedom principle constituted by Nihonkokukenpō (Japanese Constitution) and Shūkyōhōjin-hō (Religious Corporations Act).

Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic by Adam Jortner

Reviewed by: Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic by Adam Jortner Christine Skolnik Christine Skolnik, Adam Jortner, Early America, Miracles, Politics, Antebellum, Supernaturalism, Disenchantment, Modernity, Jeffersonian America, Rationalism, First Amendment, American History adam jortner. Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017. Pp. 264. In 1775, passionate rebels following charismatic leaders in Lexington and Concord fought in the first battles of a war to oppose arbitrary authority and establish an independent American republic. In 1838, a government within the same republic fought against and brutally defeated an independent Mormon militia, composed of passionate men following charismatic leaders, attempting to overthrow what they perceived as arbitrary authority (183). History is written by the victors, but there is much to be learned from comparing such structurally similar and yet historically distinct events. In some cases and contexts, political values supported by religious beliefs seem rational, while in other cases and contexts, the fusion of religion and politics seems irrational and dangerous. This is obvious in hindsight, and yet it is true, if not a truism, that religious and political cultures are typically blind to their own contemporaneous moral assumptions and cultural prejudices. Blood from the Sky: Miracles and Politics in the Early American Republic, a history of eccentric religious experiences and organizations in the American republic from 1780 to 1838, is an astute and accessible study of the politics of miracles, and an invaluable reference for scholars interested in the American supernatural. It should also be of interest to scholars in various disciplines focusing on the time period or major subtopics, particularly those working in the history of religions, history of rhetoric, and cultural studies. Jortner's thesis is fairly straightforward: the experience and discourse of the supernatural in the Early American republic was integral to public discourse and prompted political action on the part of religious fanatics and conservative forces alike. Though the book is far more narrative than analytical, its analytical theses are so well supported the book will surely transform our perspective on past as well as present-day conflicts regarding freedom and religion. Among Jortner's most significant findings are the bias against marginal religions when historians read antisupernaturalist reports out of historical context; the common themes and rhetorical strategies of various religious leaders [End Page 302] with very different and sometimes opposing agendas; and the important differences between the rationally conservative attitudes of the Founding Fathers and the supernatural orientation and zeal of present-day Evangelicals. The first part of the book is a description and analysis of the epistemological, religious, and political climate of the era. In Chapter 1, Jortner traces the intellectual history of the Enlightenment and explains how it influenced popular religious and political discourse. This chapter is important in setting the stage for the kinds of arguments made by eccentric religious leaders and their opponents. Chapter 2 is a compelling and convincing, if not compressive, account of various supernatural practices of the period. Jortner's introduction makes clear that he is focused on external manifestations, rather than mental experiences, and yet the chapter seems encyclopedic, because of the breadth of research and level of detail. In Chapter 3, Jortner develops his analytical thesis, which revolves around the complex relationship between religious and political freedoms. While American democracy is founded on the principle of religious freedom, it can also be undermined if not undone by superstition and religious fanaticism. The second part of the monograph focuses on the most popular and politically controversial American sects of the period. Jortner's accounts and analyses of Shakers, Native American Prophets, and Latter-day Saints enrich our understanding of these religious movements as well as the sociocultural circumstances that gave rise to and suppressed them. The last chapter of this section focuses on a number of less prominent but equally interesting sects, including the Babcockists, Wilkinsonians, and Cochranites. The inclusion of these sects contributes to Jortner's study by illustrating that Early American readiness and appetite for miracles and miracle workers was fairly commonplace, but also by exploring some of the most eccentric though also, in some ways, forward-looking characteristics...

Geneza i przedmiot Konkordatu między Stolicą Apostolską i Rzecząpospolitą Polską z 1993 roku

The Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland was signed on 28 July 1993 and ratified on 23 February 1998. This international agreement confir­m­ed and specified the principles proclaimed at the Second Vatican Council: 1) the pri­n­ci­ple of autonomy and independence of the Church from the State; 2) the principle of co­op­eration between the Church and the State; 3) the principle of religious freedom. The Concordat regulates among others the following matters: recognition of the legal per­so­nality of the Catholic Church and its organizational units, the Church’s discretion in making changes in its territorial structure; protection of marriage and family, and in particular recognition of the civil consequences of a marriage concluded according to the canonical form, and the cooperation of the state and the Church in matters of mar­riage and family.

HAK ASASI MANUSIA MENURUT AL-QUR’AN DAN HADIS NABI SAW

Human Rights at this time has become the center of international attention and become a hot issue and a lot of discussion. Although in Islam human rights not specifically have a charter, but al-Qur'an and Sunnah to focus on human rights. Prophet Muhammad from the beginning has been to implement the principle of religious freedom in the form of the principle of equality and respect for human beings in the medina very heterogeneous society as stipulated in the charter of the medina.

Challenges of Pluralistic Societies with Dissimilar Cultural Identities and Religious Legal Traditions: ADR and the Role of Religious Mediation and Arbitration

Summary: 1. The Challenges of Pluralistic Societies with Dissimilar Cultural Identities and Religious Traditions: from a Melting Pot to a Cultural Mosaic - 2. European Catholic Tradition of Dual Legislation and Jurisdiction: 2.1. The Development of the Religious Jurisdiction: from the Episcopalis Audientia under the Christian Roman Empire to the Homologation of Religious Decisions by a Civil Judge – 2.2. The Development of Secular and Religious Jurisdictions: from the Leges Barbarorum et Romanorum under the Principle of Personality to the Medieval Dual Jurisdiction in Europe – 2.3. Religious Minorities under Christian Rulers – 3. Muslim Legal Tradition of Plural Jurisdictions: 3.1. Muslim Empires and the Dhimma System – 3.2. Islamic Communities in Transition: from the Pre-colonial Era to the Colonial Rule – 3.3. The Exceptionality of Palestine and Israel- 4. Toward a Global World: Legal Pluralism and the Development of ADR. The Role of Religious Mediation and Arbitration: 4.1. The American Experience in Religious Arbitration: the Jewish Beth Din Courts and the Challenge of Islamic Arbitration – 4.2. Confronting the Fear of Islamic Arbitration Tribunals in the UK, Canada, and Australia - 5. Conclusions. Abstract: Most of juridical systems are historically developed from the interaction of two main legal principles: the principle of personality and the principle of territoriality. Roman Law is one of the best examples of it; its legacy channeled the growth and coexistence of religious and secular jurisdictions in the Germanic kingdoms of Western Europe. Under the principle of personality of laws, bonding individuals to their cultural or religious communities, legal pluralism was the common grounds from the Antiquity to the pre-Modern era. However, as a result of the religious wars in the Holy Roman Empire between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th and the 17th centuries, the Westphalian state model reinforced a territorial religious jurisdiction under the principle cuius regio eius religio, allowing the ruler to impose his religion on his subjects. The Muslim legal tradition developed, as well, plural juridical systems from the Dhimma System. One of them was the Ottoman Millet system that was adapted from the colonial era to the most of Middle East nation-states as a bonding personal religious law applied to non-Muslim communities. The secular paradigm of the Rule of Law, centralizing and reinforcing state and federal legislative powers, is implemented in Europe and her former colonies in the 19th century under the nation-state constitutional model, expanding worldwide the principles of territoriality and citizenship. As a result, religious legal systems are progressively confined to the private sphere. However, the secular paradigm is confronted gradually by a new development of legal pluralism, mainly as an effect of an extensive increment of global migrations; Halakha or Jewish Law, Canon Law or Catholic Law, Sharia or Islamic Law, are gaining strength as formal or informal religious ADR under the principle of Religious Freedom. Religious legal systems are becoming an innovative tool of mediation, conciliation, and arbitration accepted by some secular jurisdictions around the world, although there is a polarized debate about it. In today´s global world, which are the lessons to be learned from legal traditions and contemporary models of legal pluralism? Can religious legal systems become a tool of mediation for restorative justice preventing and exiting from violence? This article addresses this juridical and social challenge from an interdisciplinary comparative analysis.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as an Object of the Eastern Policy of the Vatican in the Context of Catholic-Orthodox Relations

Until the mid-twentieth century, the Catholic Church did not recognize the principle of religious freedom, and hence the freedom of conscience. That is why her attitude to other religions, especially Christian churches, was based on the ecclesial and soteriological exclusivism "Extra Ecclesiam Romanam nulla salus" - "Out of the Roman Church there is no salvation." The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) approved the "Decree on Religious Freedom", which opened the way for dialogue with other religions and ecumenism with Christian churches, especially the Orthodox.

Alfred E. Smith and the Americanization of the Catholic Church

Prompted by the likelihood that a Catholic politician, Alfred E. Smith, would contest the 1928 presidential election on behalf of the Democratic Party, numerous Catholic and Protestant writers debated church-state relations. If Smith won the presidency, Protestants feared that papal influence would undermine the principle of religious freedom protected by the American Constitution. Catholics themselves were divided on this question and the debate led to the revival of arguments previously aired during the Americanist controversy of the late-nineteenth century. At that time, several U.S. bishops were promoting the separation of church and state, well established in their home country, as a model for the universal Church. However, Pope Leo XIII rejected this and, despite renewed interest in the matter following the debate over the Smith candidacy, an uneasy stand-off persisted between Roman teaching and American experience. It was not until the 1960s, mainly through the advocacy of the American delegates at the Second Vatican Council, that the Church enshrined the concepts of church-state separation and religious liberty in Dignitatis Humanae (Declaration on Religious Freedom). Thus the principles of Americanism, previously the subject of papal disapproval, were extended to the entire Church.

Toleransi Religius, Antara Pluralisme dan Pluralitas Agama dalam Perspektif Al-Quran

The emergence of the violence issues concerning religious doctrine is separated from the increasing of the cases of the intolerance in Indonesia. It is for that reason that the discourse about pluralism and plurality of religion becomes the interesting topic. Briefly, the two words above have the same meaning for its similarity in their original form that is “Plural”. However, empirically, those two words have the basic difference then it is added by the word religion in the end of the word (suffix). If the plurality of religion is meant to be the variety of religions, then the meaning of pluralism changes to be the uniformity of religion which eventually arising polemic in Indonesia. Plurality of religion is an unavoidable phenomenon from God.(Sunnatullah). This writing tries to explain how the the Qur’an “speaks” about the tolerance in the plurality of religion and the principles of religious freedom in Islamic perspective.

On the Interpretation of Religious Freedom: A Conversation with Ronald Dworkin

The death of Ronald Dworkin in 2013 was an immense loss. His moral, political, and legal theories constitute an exceptional academic legacy, and through his reflections on issues in contemporary politics and jurisprudence, he leaves a similar gift to our public life. He persistently—and, I believe, rightly—advocated conceptions and analyses in which politics is responsible to moral principles and, moreover, moral principles that are universal, and I join many who were often persuaded by his address to specific public problems. In recent books, Dworkin discussed more fully how democratic politics properly relates to religion and thus how a constitutional principle of religious freedom should be interpreted. The debt we all owe to him counsels those whose thought about democracy includes express interest in that constitutional provision to consider critically his account of it. Another understanding is, I believe, more coherent. This essay will not pursue how the alternative it commends provides a better context in which to affirm many of the political sensibilities Dworkin advocated, but that wider purpose is the background for the engagement here with him. Further, I will in this conversation dramatically abstract from his detailed arguments, although I intend sufficiently to capture his proposal that I do not neglect something relevant to the critique. Also, I will not seek to relate his more recent discussions to earlier work in his massive legacy but, rather, will focus on three publications: Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles for a New Political Debate, Justice for Hedgehogs, and his final book, Religion without God. In what follows, then, I will first summarize Dworkin’s

Remaking the Mosaic: Religious Leaders and Secular Borders in the Colonial Levant

The colonial view of Levantine society as a mosaic of religions established lasting precedents for communal self-governance and power sharing in modern states. Yet it ironically disguises the extent to which the region's religious geography was reimagined by colonial rule. Principles of religious freedom and minority rights combined with a perception of 'oriental religions' to create a unique and powerful place for religious leaders to govern. The borders that would define national societies in Palestine-Israel, Lebanon, and Syria also remade the boundaries by which the religious mosaic was structured. This article will highlight institutional change in the Maronite Christian and Sunni Muslim communities, showing how each reformulated its religious leadership in response to the creation and enforcement of Lebanon's borders with Palestine and Syria from 1920 to 1948. The 'traditional' religious leaderships of today are in no small part products of the same colonial 'lines in the sand' within which nations were formed.

Liberal equality and toleration for conservative religious minorities. Decreasing opportunities for religious schools in the Netherlands?

Liberal democratic states face new challenges in balancing between principles of religious freedom and non-discrimination and in balancing these constitutional principles with other concerns, including social cohesion, good education, and immigrant-integration. In a context of increased prominence of secular and anti-Islamic voices in political debate, there are demands to reduce legal ‘exceptions’ for (conservative) religious groups in the Netherlands. This article focuses in particular on public debate and jurisprudence with regard to education and explores discussions of associational freedoms that are of importance to religious schools, including the right to select and refuse pupils (the debate on the so-called duty to enrol (acceptatieplicht)), the possibilities for schools to refuse hiring staff who do not support the school's philosophy (for example in relation to sexual orientation), and teaching on sexuality and sexual diversity. The article concludes by arguing that the Netherlands is undergoing a shift in the conceptualisation of religious freedom in relation to liberal equality, which in the longer run may destabilise a tradition of toleration and substantial collective freedoms for conservative religious groups.