The Right to Be Proselytized Under International Law

Ryan Cheney is a 2024 JD/MPA graduate of Brigham Young University and an incoming attorney at Boyack Christiansen Legal Solutions. This post is based on an article published in the BYU Law Review.

Legal arguments and academic discussions about proselytism tend to focus on the right of the proselytizer to proselytize and on the right of the “proselytizee” to be free from such “interference.” Sometimes proselytism is criticized on the grounds that it interferes with a person’s religious rights or with the integrity of the person’s religious community.[1] However, if proselytism is restricted and people are thereby prevented from being “being proselytized,” a noteworthy result is that fewer people hear proselytizers’ messages and adopt new religions or beliefs. Of course, some people will prefer not to interact with proselytizers. However, many individuals listen to and accept proselytizers’ messages.[2] By depriving them of the opportunity to choose whether to listen to and accept proselytizers’ messages, might proselytism restrictions infringe on individuals’ rights?

I argue that such restrictions in fact do violate individuals’ rights under international law because international law protects a right to be proselytized.

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The Trinity, the “Prevailing Religion,” and the Greek Constitution

Effie Fokas, Senior Research Fellow, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy; Research Associate, London School of Economics Hellenic Observatory

The implications, potential and real, of the references to religion in the Greek Constitution entail a perennial socio-legal conundrum in Greece and the subject of intense legal and political debate. In this post, I will introduce readers to those references to religion in the text of the constitution and explore some ways in which they have both potential and real impact upon Greek socio-legal life.

The Current Greek Constitution and Sacramental Categories

The current Greek Constitution was drafted in 1974 following the end of a military dictatorship; it came into effect in 1975 and underwent amendments in 1986, 2001, 2008, and 2019. Consistently, however, since its 1974 formulation, the Constitution of Greece is  presented “[i]n the name of the Holy and Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity”; these are the words the reader first encounters under the title, “The Constitution of Greece.” To the general reader, “consubstantial” will be a rather unintelligible theological notion; it means “of one and the same substance, essence, or nature” and denotes here the oneness of the three “persons” of the Trinity—God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. (more…)

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