Example of freedom of religion9/17/2023 ![]() ![]() It noted that child marriages used to be widespread among European ruling dynasties. The court found that ES ought to have put child marriages in historical context. ES had rejected her sister’s advice to “say it in a more diplomatic way”, and, the court found, ES “essentially conveyed the message that Muhammad had had paedophilic tendencies”. She questioned whether Muhammad was a model for Muslim males to imitate, given that Muhammad had, according to Islamic scholarship she cited, married a girl of six and consummated the union when the girl was nine. In 2009, ES gave a seminar arranged by the rightwing Freedom party and attended by about 30 people. Named by the court as ES, the woman had been found guilty of “publicly disparaging an object of veneration of a domestic church or religious society, namely Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in a manner capable of arousing justified indignation”. She was fined €480, or, in default, six months in prison. In a controversial decision that shows the continuing potency of laws criminalising speech critical of religious belief, it upheld the Austrian courts’ punishment of a woman for criticising Muhammad, considered by Muslims to be the last of God’s prophets. On 25 October the European court of human rights had cast a different light on the issue. Protests erupted, judges’ security was tightened and, in a reminder of how social media can grease the spread of violence in the right conditions, parts of the mobile phone network were temporarily shut down. Last week Pakistan’s supreme court struck down a death sentence for blasphemy that had been imposed on a Christian woman in 2010. ![]() The people of Ireland recently voted by 65% to 35% to remove from their constitution the criminal offence of blasphemy. Not totally, or everywhere, but there’s a trend. ![]() The law is gradually withdrawing from its traditional role as an enforcer of religious orthodoxy. Managing those tensions through self-regulation will grow, especially in organisations such as the Guardian that serve online a diverse global audience. Many people, perhaps now a majority in England, live by secular values, and may prefer that the law makes no attempt to protect what they regard as private, rather than shared, values.”Įpisodes of freedom of expression for some can be perceived by others as an attack on their religion, and respect for a religion can be thought to constrain expression unduly. Something valuable is lost if there are no restrictions at all on what can be said or written about God or religious belief.” Barendt continued: “This view is of course contestable. Government has tried to force religious owners of businesses and even Catholic nuns to provide insurance coverage for drugs they believe cause abortions or are immoral.A free-speech scholar, Eric Barendt, summarised one church’s argument in favour of offences against religion and public worship: that “society is entitled to, or perhaps even should, protect a sense of the sacred. Prominent voices now want to deny churches tax-exempt status. There’s an active effort to discipline or silence some professionals because of their religious beliefs and speech about marriage, family, gender, and sexuality.Ī new movement has arisen to repeal or severely weaken the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a key United States federal law protecting religious freedom that had strong bipartisan support when it originally passed. Religious schools with faith-based honor codes requiring chastity and fidelity are being threatened with possible loss of accreditation and denial of student aid and research contracts. The ability of religious parents to influence how their children in public schools are taught about sensitive sexual matters is being challenged. People have been fired from important positions for expressing their religious beliefs in favor of traditional marriage. ![]() Will it affect your job? Will it have an impact on your children at school? Will it affect religious gatherings in your community? The answer to most questions like these is probably yes, because issues relating to religious freedom occur every day. Rather, it is a much richer ‘positive’ freedom-the freedom to live one’s religion or belief in a legal, political, and social environment that is tolerant, respectful, and accommodating of diverse beliefs.”Įven when you understand the importance of religious freedom and know the basics of what it involves, you may still wonder what it means for you on a practical level. “A robust freedom is not merely what political philosophers have referred to as the ‘negative’ freedom to be left alone, however important that may be. ![]()
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