Conference of European Churches
Church & Society Commission
TRAINING
ON FREEDOM OF
RELIGION OR BELIEF
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Conference of European Churches
Church & Society Commission
Table of contents
 Explanation of concepts and definitions
 Overview of different relevant issues (for example parents,
children, education, states and churches, terrorism and
religious property)
 Overview of position and role of the most important international
organisations (UN, OSCE, EU, Council of Europe)
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Conference of European Churches
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About the Human Rights Concept
 History of development of Human Rights
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 Freedom of Religion or Belief as a fundamental
human right
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Conference of European Churches
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Sharing Session
 Do you have personal experiences related to (limitations of)
freedom of religion or belief?
 Are you aware of events or cases of other persons or religious
organisations related to this issue?
 Which issues play a role in discussions in your society in which
the wish to restrict or defend this freedom is at stake?
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Conference of European Churches
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Theological reflection on the issue on Freedom of Religion or
Belief
 General idea of freedom in the bible: “For Freedom Christ has set
us free” (Gal 5:1,13-25)
 Centre of Churches’ advocacy for Human Rights, because:
 only a free belief is true belief
 dignity of human beings
 core of churches’ freedom
The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer,
by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883).
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Conference of European Churches
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What are the present challenges related to Freedom of
Religion or Belief in society?
 Persecution of Religious Minorities
 Limitation of freedom of religious expression
 Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Christianophobia
 Majority/ Minority
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Content of the right of Freedom of Religion or Belief (Article
18 UDHR)
 Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
 Right to freedom to change his/her religion or belief;
 Freedom to exercise religion or belief alone or in community with
others and in public or private sphere;
 Freedom to manifest his/her religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance.
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Conference of European Churches
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Definitions and Key concepts
 The definition of the term ‘religion’
 Religion or belief
 Inter-relationship of human rights norms
 The margin of appreciation
 Internal freedom (forum internum)
 External freedom (forum externum)
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Conference of European Churches
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Religion or Belief
 What is the difference between religion and belief?
 Belief: “Deeply held conscientious beliefs that are
fundamental about the human condition and the world”.
 Belief includes: atheism, agnosticism, pacifism, communism
and veganism.
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Conference of European Churches
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The Definition of ‘Religion’
Difficulties:
No internationally accepted definition;
How to define a religious concept in legal terms?;
What is considered a religion (think of Buddhism)?;
Terms “sect” and “cult”;
Criteria: A certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and
importance (Campbell and Cosans v United Kingdom 25 February
1982, para. 36).
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Conference of European Churches
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Internal Freedom (forum internum)
The key element of the right is that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion”;
This freedom is - in contrast to manifestations of religion - an
absolute right and may not be subjected to limitations of any
kind;
The right to “change” or “to have or adopt” a religion or belief
falls within the domain of the absolute internal freedom right.
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Conference of European Churches
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External Freedom (forum externum)
 Everyone has the freedom, either alone or in community with
others, in public or private “to manifest his (or her) religion or belief
in worship, observance, practice, and teaching” (ICCPR, Article
18.1);
 The scope of protected manifestations is broad;
 The manifestations of an individual’s beliefs and those of a
community are protected.
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Conference of European Churches
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Limitations - Role and position of the State
 The scope of the possible limitations
 Equality and non-discrimination
 Neutrality and impartiality
 Non-coercion
 Rights of parents and guardians
 Right to association
 Right to effective remedies
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Conference of European Churches
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Rights of parents and guardians
Key elements of the right are:
Parents have the liberty to ensure the moral education of
their children in conformity with their own convictions;
Protection for the rights of each child to freedom of religion
or belief consistent with the evolving capacities of the child.
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Conference of European Churches
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 Equality and non-discrimination
 Neutrality and impartiality
 Non-coercion.
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Right to effective remedies
The ECHR provides:
Protection of fundamental human rights provided by Articles 1-12;
Protection on the national level by ensuring that ‘effective remedies’ offer
protection against violations by the State or others;
Articles 6 and 13 of ECHR require fair trial and effective remedies,
extending the human rights protection also to ‘procedural rights’ on the
national level.
For example the right of a religious community to acquire legal personality
on the basis of ECHR Article 9, construed “in light of” Article 6 (Metropolitan
Church of Bessarabia v. Moldova, para. 118 (ECtHR 2001); Canea Catholic
Church v. Greece (ECtHR 1997)).
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Children, parents, education
 Parental rights related to the education of their
children;
 Religious, ethical, or humanist education in State
and community schools;
 Religious symbols (and attire) in State schools.
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Parental rights related to the education of their
children
 It is generally recognised that parents have the right to
determine the religious education of their children;
 (See for example General Comment 22 para. 6; ECHR
protocol 2 Article 2; 1981 Declaration Article 5; Vienna
Concluding Document 16.7).
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Religious, ethical, or humanist education in State
and community schools
This is the obligation for the State to respect and to ensure to all
individuals subject to its jurisdiction the right to freedom of religion or
belief without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion or belief, political or other opinion, national or other
origin, property, birth or other status.
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Religious symbols (and attire) in State schools
 In exercising its regulatory power in its relations with the various
religions, denominations and beliefs, the State has a duty to remain
neutral and impartial;
 Lautsi and others v Italy, 18 March 2011 on crucifixes in classrooms;
 Sahin v Turkey, 10 November 2005 on religious clothing;
 Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia v Moldova, para. 116 (ECtHR
2001).
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Religious Autonomy
 The influence of States on religion range from State authority over
doctrines and churches to States which are very reluctant to involve
themselves in any ‘internal’ or ‘doctrinal’ matter.
 Issues/questions:
 Under which circumstances would State involvement be necessary?
 How to balance the interests of society versus, for example, religious
dominance/interference with the fundamental morals and values of
society by certain religious groups/communities/churches?
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Conference of European Churches
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States and churches: Autonomy, administration,
financing
 Religious autonomy
 Registration of religious/belief organisations
 Proselyting/missionary activity
 State financing
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Registration of religious/belief organisations
The major problem areas that may be addressed regarding registration
and acquisition of legal personality by religious organisations:
 Registration of religious organisations should not be mandatory,
although it is appropriate to require registration for the purposes of
obtaining legal personality and similar benefits.
 Individuals and groups should be free to practice their religion without
registration if they so desire.
 High minimum membership requirements should not be allowed with
respect to obtaining legal personality.
 Other excessively burdensome constraints or time delays prior to
obtaining legal personality should be questioned.
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State financing
States provide:
 Direct financing;
 Indirect financing, for example, tax exemptions and tax
deductions;
 State funding systems, for example, paying salaries for clergy
subsidising schools, donating property.
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Proselyting and missionary activity
 The core element of freedom of religion is the right to
express one’s religious convictions and to share them with
others;
 There is a line between the right to engage in religious
persuasion and coercive persuasion;
 Protection of door-to-door proselytising; protection of the
right to refuse to be proselytised.
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Military service
 Conscientious objection to military service;
 Other issues.
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Conscientious objection to military service
 Conscientious objection is allowed in most democratic
States;
 To be replaced by alternative (non-military) service;
 No controlling international standard on this issue.
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 Other places in which objections may rise:
 Refusal to take oaths
 Refusal to perform jury service
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Terrorism and Human Rights
 Can terrorists who do not respect the most fundamental human rights
(right to life) enjoy full protection of their own human rights?
 Can human rights be balanced? For example: is it possible give priority
to protect the life of a large number of innocent people (from a terrorist
attack) and accept that the suspected terrorist’s rights might be
violated?
 European Court of Human Rights: Grand Chamber Saadi v Italy of 29
January 2008
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Right to ask for protection as refugee for persecution for
reasons of religion
 Protects the right to freedom of religion or belief;
 Comprises:
 the freedom of a person to change his/her religion and.
 freedom to manifest it in public or private.
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National security and terrorism
 Terrorism and human rights
 Religious terrorism
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Religious Terrorism
 Measures to protect people against (religious) terrorism;
 Clear distinction between organisations that do or do not
engage in criminal or violent acts.
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Religious property disputes
Two types of disputes:
 Disputed ownership as a result of prior State action that seized the
property and transferred it to others (for example in former
communist/socialist countries);
 Dispute within a religious community leading to groups contesting
ownership rights.
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Political activities of religious organisations
 State approach to political activities of religious organisations
 States have a variety of approaches, for example:
 Prohibition of religious-political parties
 Preventing religious groups from engaging in political
activities
 Eliminating tax exemptions for religious groups engaging in
political activities.
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Labour
 Three of the principal issues regarding the relationship between labour
(employment practices) and religion or belief involve the hiring and other
personnel practices of religious or belief groups, private enterprises,
State offices;
 Religious and belief organisations will likely seek exemptions for their
own hiring practices so that they may hire and retain people whose
sympathies correspond to the interests of the associations;
 Legal approaches: Private (non-religious) enterprises: the standard will
be to prohibit discrimination. Employers may be allowed to restrict some
manifestations of belief. States should not discriminate in personnel
practices (some States prohibit officials from wearing religious insignia).
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Right to association and assembly
 Freedom of association is the right for everybody to join with
others without State interference;
 Freedom of (peaceful) assembly is, for example, the freedom to
have processions;
 Thereby both rights are closely connected with the right to
freedom of (manifestation) of religion or belief;
 Limitations should not be unreasonable and inconsistent with the
substance of the right;
 States have a positive obligation to regulate and protect the
application of this right.
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Tolerance
 Freedom of religion or belief - the rights of others to have a
different religion or belief or no religion or belief;
 How to respect different ways of life?
 Where to limit the rights of others, coming from a different
cultural/religious background, manifesting religious traditions
conflicting with our own moral and religious standards (which
may be translated into law and policy).
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Religious freedom and foreign affairs
 How is freedom of religion or belief monitored by your
national government?
 For example: policy to monitor the issue within the scope of
national foreign policy;
 How could you cooperate with the national authorities?
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Important articles related to the Freedom of Religion or
Belief - I
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 18
 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
(ICCPR): Articles 18 and 27
 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1966): Article 13
 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (1950) (ECHR): Article 9
 European Charter on Fundamental Rights: Article 10
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Important articles related to the Freedom of Religion or Belief - II
 Commitments and Concluding Documents of the OSCE process
(particularly the 1989 Vienna Concluding Document)
 Framework Convention for the protection of national Minorities:
Articles 5, 7 and 8
 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief: Articles 1 and 6
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UN -
Human Rights Instruments
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (UDHR) see Article 18
 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) (ICCPR)
 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1966)
 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981)
 United Nations Human Rights Committee General Comment 22
 Reports of United Nations Special Rapporteurs
(in the left column go to 'Mandates', choose thematic or country
mandates - from there you can choose your country/topic and have
access to the page of the Special Rapporteur)
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UN Special Rapporteurs, UPR, OUNHR
 The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (since 1986);
 The Special Rapporteur on Promotion and Protection of Freedom of
Opinion and Expression also can be contacted for violations or
limitation of religious expression;
 The Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance has the task of
dealing with Anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia;
 Universal Periodical Review (UPR);
 You can get in touch with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OUNHR).
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Council of Europe - Human Rights Instruments
 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (1950) (ECHR) see Article 9
 Decisions and judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
 Commissioner for Human Rights
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OSCE Instruments
 Commitments and Concluding Documents of the OSCE process
(particularly 1989 Vienna Concluding Document)
 OSCE/ODIHR Guidelines for Review of Legislation Pertaining to
Religion or Belief (2004)
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EU Instruments
The most important EU Human Rights Instruments:
 EU Lisbon Treaty see : Articles 11 and 17
 European Charter on Fundamental Rights see: Article 10
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EU Institutions dealing with Freedom of Religion or Belief /
Mechanisms:
 European Commission
 The Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and
Citizenship
 The Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy
(Turkey, Western Balkans)
 BEPA also organises a yearly meeting of Religious Leaders
 The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy (Eastern partnerships)
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