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Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies
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The European “Cycle” of Neutrality
by Matteo Corsalini
In liberal Western democracies, one possible reading of the principle of “neutrality” vis-à-vis religions is that states should encourage the flourishing of all co-existing faith- and belief-based systems that inhabit the public sphere. While this paradigm embodies an “ideal type of inclusive secularism,” managing religious diversity under an egalitarian conception of neutrality does not mean that civic authorities must treat all groups seeking a place and a voice within the state with absolute impartiality.
There are two main trends [in Ukraine’s church-state relationship], which overlap. The first trend is securitization, and the second one is a drift to a more cooperationist model of church-state relations with respect to securitization. Since 2014, religion, and especially inter-Orthodox competition, has become a matter of security concern for Ukraine. Before the war, there were several academics, experts, and some politicians promoting this sort of “spiritual security” approach, but it was never a matter of urgent high political priority or comprehensive state policies.
Religious Right to Abortion: A Recent U.S. Appeals Court Decision
by Frederick Mark Gedicks
An appeals court in the U.S. state of Indiana recently found a religious right to abortion under the state’s religious freedom statute (Individual Members of the Med. Licensing Bd. v. Anonymous Plaintiff 1 (Indiana Ct. App. Apr. 4, 2024)). However startling its holding, the court’s analysis is doctrinally orthodox, closely following U.S. Supreme Court precedent applying the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to claims for religious exemptions.
FoRB Podcast: Qur’an Burning Cases
by Dmytro Vovk, Merilin Kiviorg and Ed Brown
In this first episode of the FoRB Podcast, Dmytro Vovk and Merilin Kiviorg invite Ed Brown from Oslo-based Stefanus Alliance International to discuss Qur’an-burning cases in Scandinavian countries and beyond. They touch on state responses to Qur’an burning, goals of religious and anti-religious expressions, Pussy Riot songs and Buddha statues, capitalist logic behind religious tolerance, and why criminalization is not the best way to protect religious minorities from anti-religious speech.
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