Church, State, and Religious Education: Explaining Different Shifts in Europe

Leni Franken is a senior researcher and teacher assistant at the University of Antwerp (Belgium)

This text is a summary of a recent article entitled “Church, State and RE in Europe: Past, Present and Future”, published in Religion & Education

Until the 1970s, Religious Education (RE) in Europe was mainly organized in a denominational and confessional way and aimed at religious socialization in one religious (Christian) tradition. For a long time, this model of mono-confessional RE was not disputed: even though non-Christian religions (for instance Judaism, Islam, and several Eastern traditions) and atheism had some presence in Europe before the 1960s, the majority of citizens belonged to a Christian denomination, and it was the norm to have Christian RE at school.

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‘Because of Sex’: The Coming Battle between the Free Exercise Clause and the Equality Act

Christine M. Venter is a Teaching Professor at Notre Dame Law School and Affiliated Faculty in Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame

The Equality Act has had a long and arduous history in its quest to become law. The Act was first introduced in 1974 by Congresswoman Bella Abzug, who was determined to end discrimination on account of “sex, marital status, and sexual orientation” in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Although that effort failed, the Act was reintroduced in 2019 and passed the House by a vote of 276 in favor to 173 opposed. Under the leadership of Mitch McConnell, the Senate declined to move it forward for a vote.

Enter the Supreme Court, and Justice Gorsuch’s majority opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, in June 2020, that Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination “because of … sex,” extended to sexual orientation and gender identity. Although the Court specifically limited its analysis to Title VII, focusing only on the employment discrimination claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity that were before the Court and not on any other area of federal law, both supporters and opponents of equality for the LGBTQ+ community were quick to question the case’s impact.

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In Pursuit of Criminal Accountability for “Grievous Religious Persecution”

Werner Nicolaas Nel is a senior lecturer in law at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and author of the book Grievous religious persecution: A conceptualisation of crimes against humanity of religious persecution

Introduction

Particular incidences of religious persecution are, because of their scale, severity, and discriminatory motivation, so heinous that they result in severe deprivations of fundamental human rights and are justifiably categorized as crimes against humanity of religious persecution, coined “grievous religious persecution”. In recent years several situations emerged of mass-discriminatory atrocities committed against communities based on their religious beliefs, such as the Yazidis in Iraq, Christian minorities in the Middle East and Nigeria, and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Given the inviolability of human dignity, such occurrences have justifiably generated a global moral outcry, demanding that the international community properly address such grave injustices and end impunity. Contrary to the current political climate of resignation and collective cynicism regarding the aspirations of the International Criminal Court (ICC), I argue that international criminal law may proceed in representation of the conscience of humankind by holding criminally accountable, those responsible for religious persecution, and help prevent future occurrences of these crimes.

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