International and National Responses to the Russian Orthodox Church’s Support of Putin’s War in Ukraine

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting associate professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The following post is based on his remarks at the ICLRS 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 8 October 2024.

In July 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin published an article “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” The article, which many now consider to be a prologue to or a sign of preparation for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, contains the following passage:

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Understanding Religious Freedom: Why Does It Matter?

Nicholas Aroney is a professor of constitutional law at The University of Queensland, a senior fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University, and a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law. The following post is based on his remarks during the panel “Understanding Religious Freedom: Why Does It Matter?” at the ICLRS 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 7 October 2024.

We live in a time when it is especially important to understand religious freedom and why it matters. There are places today where religious freedom is not regarded as a constitutional principle either because the official policy of the state is to enforce a form of secular atheism or because the official policy is to enforce a particular religion to the exclusion of all others.

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The Freedom to Import Religious Goods: An Analysis of Customs Regulations on Religious Items and Their Interference with Freedom of Religion or Belief: Part One

Brandon Reece Taylorian is an associate lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire (UK). The following is Part One of a two-part post.

Introduction

States have a clear interest in the religious activities of their citizens. This is evident in how authorities apply limitations through law on where, when, and how religious groups propagate their beliefs and gather for worship services.[1] A government equally has a legitimate interest in controlling the flow of goods into a country. However, customs regulations can also restrict imports of religious goods, which in turn restricts the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) of religious communities. Moreover, customs officials in countries with a state religion or a ban on certain denominations are more likely to target items unaligned with the religious or moral norms of the majority or privileged religion, as opposed to more generally targeting taxable items. Academic literature has granted insufficient attention to restriction of religion through customs channels, including to the question of which morality-related import restrictions constitute interference with FoRB.[2]

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