Freedom of / from Religion in Pubic Spaces? About New Law Proposal in Israel

Pablo Lerner is a professor of law at the Zefat Academic College and the College of Law and Business in Ramat-Gan (Israel). 

Last year a draft law was presented in the Israeli parliament[1] regulating a variety of issues regarding religion in public spaces. In particular, the law prohibits public authorities from interfering with the putting on of, or the helping of others put on, tefillim[2] (phylacteries) in public spaces. The draft law also prohibits public authorities from impeding the act of praying in a public space or public building. However, in a synagogue or educational institution, authorities may require that any prayer be conducted according to local Jewish custom. The draft law also establishes the duty to install a mezuzah[3] (scroll case) in public buildings.

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Illiberal Democracies and Religion: Interview with Renáta Uitz

In 2018, Hungarian Prime-Minister Viktor Orbán labeled the country’s political regime an “illiberal Christian democracy,” emphasizing his government’s interest in appropriating Christianity for the illiberal democratic context and Hungary’s clashes with more liberal members of the EU and with the Union itself. Professor Renáta Uitz (Royal Holloway, University of London; CEU Democracy Institute) discusses the origin and phenomenon of illiberal democracies in Eastern Europe and beyond and explains why and how these regimes utilize religion and religious groups for political ends. Uitz focuses on different sources of Hungarian and Polish political Christian theology and the role of “traditional values” incorporated into several Eastern European constitutions. She also elaborates on how illiberal regimes tame and silence democratically oriented religious communities and clergy by making oppositional activities too costly for them.

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Clashing Vulnerabilities? Revisiting Executief van de Moslims in België and Others v. Belgium with Vulnerability Theory

Jelle Creemers is a professor and the academic dean of religious studies at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit (ETF) in Leuven, Belgium.

The final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of Executief van de Moslims in België and Others v. Belgium (13 February 2024) could not have been more clear. The seven judges unanimously held that the Flemish and Walloon decrees banning ritual slaughter of animals without prior stunning did not constitute a violation of Article 9 (freedom of religion or belief) or of Article 14 (nondiscrimination), read in conjunction with Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This decision ended the appeal of several Belgian Muslim and Jewish organizations and individuals seeking a legal exemption that would allow them to slaughter animals according to their religious convictions. The ECtHR judgment prompted debate among, and critical feedback from, European FoRB experts.

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