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The current situation of freedom of religion and conscience in Europe

 

The current political thought suggests the following definition: freedom of religion and conscience means the freedom of individual to manifest religious principles or not to follow any religion. It demands nobody to be forced (by individual, social group or institution) to act against his beliefs.

In each European country at present that freedom is considered to be indisputable, a natural consequence of the maxim that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. In practice the demand for religious freedom has turned into irrevocable part of the modern concepts of politics. Therefore, the necessity to be proved and supported theoretically has disappeared throughout the years.

Today the freedom of religion and conscience is an obligatory part of each democratic constitution. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, states:  “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

The Universal Declaration is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states: “1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.”

These precise juridical formulations mark the final phase of numerous intellectual attempts to base theoretically and support the freedom of religion and conscious.

In terms of normative documents everything seems all right but a recent event in Switzerland, however, is very embarrassing. Swiss voters adopted a referendum banning the construction of minarets. 57 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the ban. Switzerland's Federal Council and a majority of members of Parliament opposed the initiative and officials interpret the vote as reflecting "fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies."

What will be the political, law and religious consequences of that act we can guess? How significant they will be to the Christians that face discrimination and persecution in Muslim countries? We can draw a conclusion that not everything about religious freedom in Europe corresponds to the documents quoted above.

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