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Localizing Justice: Law and Legality on the State’s Periphery
by Natalia Alenkina
In societies where formal institutions are weak, justice often depends less on the codified enforcement of laws and more on the ability of communities to sustain trust, moral responsibility, and social inclusion. The courts of aksakals in Kyrgyzstan—community-based bodies composed of respected elders—embody this ongoing search for balance between legality and morality, state authority and community cohesion, and secular justice and religiously informed values.
Religion and State Project founder and Bar-Ilan University professor Jonathan Fox explains how state policies concerning religion and religious freedom can be measured empirically. Fox discusses what prompts governments to discriminate against certain (or all) religions and why government support of religion is a popular tactic to control it. He also provides nuanced perspectives on the interplay of democratic and secular governments and religious freedom, drawing on legal decisions involving religious freedom and women’s rights, bodily integrity, and the humane treatment of animals.
Now more than ever, we are confronted with internal divisions and heightened tensions, calling for a timely and necessary conversation on the protection of religious freedom. The tragic attack on 28 September on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, serves as a devastating reminder of the urgent need to persist in promoting religious freedom for all—a responsibility that we must not only address in theory but that requires our collective action on community, judicial, and legislative fronts. Religious freedom is critical in forging a future of peace, inclusivity, and shared sacred well-being. It is the heart of civic and spiritual flourishing and is the foundation of dignity, community, and harmony across faiths. Enshrined in law and religious teachings, the right to believe is a fundamental right that we must uphold.
… In recent years, alternative theories of human rights—and of FoRB in particular—have emerged outside Europe to increasingly question the individual-centered approach of Western law, including the ECtHR’s judicial practice. Notably, in 2022, under the banner of “Catholic post-liberalism,” Harvard Law School professor Adrian Vermeule articulated a theory of constitutional interpretation that Western courts should understand human rights not merely as expressions of individual preferences but rather as tools directed to the promotion of the whole good of societies. While Vermeule’s formulation left unresolved how a “common good” reading of FoRB might concretely unfold, Sydney Law School professor Joel Harrison appeared to address this lacuna in his book Post-Liberal Religious Freedom: Forming Communities of Charity.
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