Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law

Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias is Professor at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.Aviad Hacohen is President of the Academic Center for Law and Science and former Dean of its Law School, former Lecturer on Constitutional Law and Jewish Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Senior Research Fellow, Van Leer Institute Jerusalem, Israel.

“The message of this highly interesting and well-edited collection is complexity and enigma, the gap between theory and practice concerning the freedom of religion. Many countries would declare their support for it, but when it comes to implementing, we many a time face nimby-not in my backyard. While legal institutions continue their more or less successful work, reality in many societies is grim. But having said that, sadly based on the gift of memory, we should never lose hope, in the spirit of prophet Malachi (2.10)-“Have we not all one father?””—Justice Professor Elyakim Rubinstein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, former Vice President of the Supreme Court of Israel and Attorney General of Israel.“A timely and insightful collection examining two religious minorities in Europe, whose status is increasingly precarious - not only due to the growing secularization of European societies and the resulting indifference, insensitivity, or even hostility toward religious claims but also because of polarizing political events that cast them as adversaries or outsiders. This book sheds new light on the diverse interpretations of state secularism, the principle of neutrality, and the practical challenges of ensuring reasonable accommodation for Jews and Muslims in Europe. A meticulously curated edited volume featuring a stellar cast of contributors.”—Professor Anna Śledzińska-Simon, University of Wrocław, member of the Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe project at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle.

• Foreword - Adv. Meir Linzen (President of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists) Prologue: The Boundaries of Religious Freedom in Democracies (Raphael Cohen-Almagor) Introduction: Religious Freedom and Religious Minorities in Contemporary Europe and Beyond (Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Aviad Hacohen) Part 1: Jewish and Muslim Minorities as Vulnerable Groups under International Human Rights Law 1. The ECtHR, the CJEU and the Protection of Religious Minorities: A Mixed Scorecard (Kristin Henrard) 2. Strengthening the Protection of Religious Minorities by Establishing a New Universal Human Rights Treaty: A Necessary or Redundant Effort? (Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias) 3. The Concept of Vulnerability in the Context of Religious Minorities (Grażyna Baranowska) Part 2: Duty of Religious Neutrality and Impartiality 4. Free Speech and Religious Sensitivity: Between Today’s State-Sponsored SLAPPing and Careful Balancing of Competing Interests (Marcin Górski) 5. Employers’ Duties to Respect the Religious Freedom of Employees at the Workplace – Recent Developments (Ioanna Tourkochoriti) Part 3: Shechita and Traditional Circumcision Bans 6. Shechita Legal Bans in the Comparative Perspective (Historically and Today) (Iddo Porat) 7. Animal Welfare and the Right to Freedom of Religion Before the CJEU: The Case of Stunning and Ritual Slaughter (Gerhard van der Schyff) 8. Ritual Male Circumcision and Children’s Rights (Rhona Schuz) Part 4: The Constitutional Boundaries of Religious Accommodation of Jewish and Muslim Minorities: National Perspectives 9. The Constitutional Boundaries of Religious Accommodation: The Israeli Perspective (Aviad Hacohen) 10. Jewish and Muslim Claims to Religious Freedom, Participation and Benefits under Article 4 (1) and (2) of the German Basic Law – and their Constitutional Limits(Hans Michael Heinig) 11. Recent Developments in Belgian Case Law on the Regulation of Relations between the State and Religions (Stéphanie Wattier) 12. Lethargy in the UK: How Not to Accommodate Religion or Belief (Russel Sandberg) 13. Laïcité, the legal framework for the exercise of minority religions in France (Francois Finck) Epilogue: The Amicus Curiae Opinion of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists for the CJEU Shechita case (Joseph Weiler)