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Today we live in a world of heightened religious awareness and sensitivity. The events of September 11, 2001 sent a shock wave throughout American society and in some cases ignited a religious spark in those shocked by the attacks. The result has been a distinct and clearly visible fragmentation of the United States along religious and ideological boundaries. The United States Military is not immune to stress caused by these divides. There have been claims of anti-Muslim sentiment within select units of the U.S. Army; accusations that some leaders at the U.S. Air Force Academy were using their positions to promote their faith and discriminate against minority faiths, and allegations that the U.S. Navy is prohibiting chaplains from practicing their faith. In this thesis, I examine these and other cases along with the religious diversity trends since 2001 to demonstrate that the potential for continued and increased religious conflict in the military is high. I will further argue that the solution to avoiding these conflicts is through training and education provided at the initial stages of enlisted training and at the commissioning source for officers.

The purpose of this essay is to see if the upper secondary school in Sweden meets the acquirements of freedom of religion, in this particular study I focused on the Christian pupils at the school. Could it be that the Christian pupils feel that the school won’t accept them because the school is a secularized institution? Or do they feel that the school encourage their right to practice their religion at school? I interviewed six pupils at two different schools to find out about their experience with the school and the opportunity to practice their religion. The result shows that the pupils feel encouraged to practice their religion, with little or no resistance from the school.

While the United Kingdom has a general commitment to religious freedom, there is currently very little written on what this commitment ought to mean for religious organizations. This thesis contributes to religious freedom literature by considering when United Kingdom law ought to apply to religious organizations. It answers this question by exploring certain potential conflicts between United Kingdom law and religious organizations paying particular attention to those that are under-examined and where the possibility of differential treatment is strongest. The thesis is divided into three parts. Part One consists of Chapter One and sets out the doctrinal and theoretical foundations of religious freedom. Here the thesis accepts that autonomy is the liberal normative justification for religious freedom. Part Two consists of Chapters Two to Chapter Seven and examines the interaction between United Kingdom law and religious organizations in six contexts: employment; the provision of goods and services; membership admission; internal discipline, internal property disputes; and family matters. Each chapter in Part Two is divided into two parts. The first part considers the legal doctrine that applies to religious organizations in that context. It then considers whether that approach can be justified in light of the commitment to religious freedom and autonomy identified in Part One. Part Three consists of the final chapter, Chapter Eight. This chapter uses the conclusions from the preceding doctrinal chapters to suggest a general approach for determining when law should apply to religious organizations. The thesis concludes that a contextual approach, that considers the often competing interests involved, is the best way of determining when law should apply to religious organizations. Such consideration ought to pay special attention to the importance of the particular activity to ensuring that the option of a religious way of life is available.

À la fin des années 1980, trois adolescentes d’origine musulmane ont été exclues de leur collège parce qu’elles refusaient d’enlever leur voile en classe. Ce « fait divers » aurait pu passer inaperçu s’il n’avait pas été étalé de manière spectaculaire sur la scène médiatique. Les raisons invoquées pour justifier cet engouement tiennent en un mot : faire respecter le principe de laïcité au sein de l’école républicaine. Mais très vite, le débat a pris d’autres proportions avec l’intervention d’une grande partie d’intellectuels et l’on apprend soudainement que, derrière le foulard, se cache la soumission de la femme, si ce n’est une volonté affichée de « communautarisme », voire d’« intégrisme religieux ». La nation serait alors en danger et l’on comprend que la question du foulard rebondisse en 1994, avec cette fois-ci une détermination de la part des militants laïcs de mettre en échec le droit en vigueur, formulé par le Conseil d’État en des termes limpides : le port d’un signe religieux par les élèves ne saurait, en lui-même, constituer un motif d’exclusion, sauf cas avéré de « port ostentatoire et revendicatif ». Reste que dans un mouvement d’éternel retour, le problème du foulard resurgit brutalement en 2003, se politise et s’achève par la promulgation en mars 2004 d’une loi interdisant le port du voile dans les établissements publics.Sur le fond, cette évolution a mis en exergue un aspect essentiel : la crainte des « immigrés » et d’un islam devenu trop visible. Elle a également permis d’opposer la laïcité à la liberté religieuse. Notre travail consiste justement à comprendre comment on en est arrivé à rendre antinomiques deux principes fondamentaux sur lesquels repose, entre autres, la notion de démocratie en République française. Cette interrogation est d’autant plus légitime que la polémique autour du foulard avait explicitement ignoré le point de vue des femmes voilées, passant ainsi à côté des différentes significations que ce bout d’étoffe pouvait contenir. De fait, si l’objectif de notre recherche est de passer au crible la position de ceux qui ont oeuvré à l’interdiction du foulard dans l’espace scolaire, il s’agit aussi de donner la parole à ces femmes qui n’ont pas eu droit de cité. Dans cette optique, notre souci premier est de connaître comment elles vivent leur voilement. Quel sens donnent-elles au port du voile ? Quel regard jettent-elles sur un débat qui semble mettre en cause leur liberté d’expression confessionnelle ? Ces questions sont à la base de notre problématique. / At the end of the 80s, three girls of Moslem origin were excluded from their middle school because they refused to remove their veil in class. This «news item» would have been able to pass unnoticed, had not it been spread in a spectacular way over the media scene. The reasons called to justify this craze like are the will to make respect the principle of secularism within the republican school. But, very fast, the debate took other proportions with the intervention of many intellectuals who thought that behind the scarf hides the submission of the woman, if it is not a will posted by «communitarism» even of « religious fundamentalism ».Then, the nation would be in danger and we can understand that the question of the scarf bounces in 1994, with this time a determination on behalf of laic activists to put in check the current law, formulated by the Council of State in crystal clear terms: the bearing of a religious sign by the pupils does not constitute in itself a motive for exclusion, except in cases of «ostentatious and claiming bearing» . But in a movement of eternal return, the bearing of the scarf reappears brutally in 2003, politicizes, and ends with the promulgation in March, 2004 of a law forbidding the wearing of the veil in public institutions. In fact, this evolution highlighted an essential aspect: the fear of the «immigrants» and the Islam become too visible. It also allowed to set secularism against the freedom of religion. Our work consists in understanding how we managed to make paradoxical these two fundamental principles on which the notion of democracy in French Republic, among others, rests. This interrogation is all the more justifiable since the debate around the scarf had explicitly ignored the point of view of the veiled women, so passing next to the various meanings which this end of fabric could contain. Actually, if the objective of our research is to examine closely the position of those who intervened for the ban on the scarf in the school space, it is also a question of giving the floor to these women who have not been established. So, our first questions are: how do they live their buckle ? What sense do they give to the wearing of the veil ? What glance do they throw on a debate which seems to question their confessional freedom of expression ? These questions are on the base of our research

The European continent has been plagued by religious-based conflicts for centuries. While in the past the conflicts arose from disputes between the Catholic and the Protestant church, the main source of the conflicts nowadays is migration to European countries. The migration is what brings significant religious and cultural differences into the functioning traditional European society. One of the currently most discussed topics according to conflicts in Europe is the presence of religious symbols in public spaces. At this point new coming religion symbolized by the Muslim headscarf clashes the traditional religion adhered to by majority and in public areas symbolized by the Christian cross. Except for the conflict between the religions the dispute arises also between religions and the principle of secularism. The aim of my thesis is to analyze the issue of religious symbols in public area, not only in terms of religious freedom, but also in terms of equality and discrimination, protection of the rights of minorities, right to education and gender equality, as these are the issues that need to be considered in its complexity. In the thesis will further examine the question of whether and under what conditions it is possible to limit the demonstration of religious symbols in public areas and in this...

LL.D. (Public law)

Current Frame of Religious Freedom in the System of European Protection of Human Rights Abstract This thesis deals with the topic of protection of Freedom of Religion in the System of European Protection of Human Rights. It begins with a description of the formulation of this freedom in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the legal systems of Germany, Austria and Czech Republic. The legal systems of Germany and Austria are very close to the Czech one, therefore the acquired knowledge might become an inspiration for considerations of possible future legislative changes in the Czech Republic (also considering that while the integration of other cultures is still a relatively new topic in here, the above mentioned other states have already much more experience on this field). Another reason why this choice was made is also a wide range of interesting court decisions concerning the topic of this thesis mainly in Germany, but also in Austria. The description of the formulation of the Freedom of Religion in general is followed by the theoretical description and praxis of teaching Religion at public schools in the above stated countries. It is obvious from the comparison of the praxis in the aforementioned states that...

The relationship between ideas and history is important in order to understand the past and the present. The idea of religious liberty and the realization of that ideal in sixteenth-century Europe by the Anabaptists in Switzerland and South Germany in the 1520s was considered to be revolutionary in a society characterized by the union of church and state. The main impetus of the idea of religious liberty for the Anabaptists was the application of the New Testament standard of the Christian church, which was an independent congregation of believers marked only by adult baptism. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the contributions of the Swiss Anabaptists to the idea of religious liberty by looking at the ministries and activities of three major leaders of the early Swiss movement: Conrad Grebel, Michael Sattler, and Balthasar Hubmaier. This thesis takes up the modern form of religious liberty as analyzed by twentieth-century authorities, as a framework for better understanding the contributions of the Anabaptists. My research then explores the establishment of the first Anabaptist church in history, the Zollikon church outside of Zurich, and examines its organization membership, motives, and strategies for evangelizing Switzerland. In all areas influenced by the Anabaptists, there was considerable acceptance of their doctrine of a separated church. Their teaching on liberty of conscience also influenced people in towns such as Zollikon and Waldshut. Possible historical links between the Anabaptist doctrines and establishment of later Baptist denominations are shown.

<p>Within the context of South Africa&lsquo / s diverging religious, cultural and social backgrounds, new questions on the nature of a multicultural society are raised from the perspective of human rights.&nbsp / The universality and indivisibility of human rights are challenged by this diversity and consequently implies that standards, concepts and structures for implementation have to be reconsidered.&nbsp / International and national standards are being (re)interpreted and attention is not only focused on the contents of the norms but on the limitations imposed thereupon. The debate on whether limits should be set in permitting or accommodating cultural or religious pluralism is becoming extremely relevant. The manner in which these questions are responded to&nbsp / is even more prominent in the light of our history of apartheid which has disregarded respect for religious and cultural diversity. In the scope of this research emphasis will be placed on the&nbsp / right to freedom of religion and in particular the limitation of the right to religion in an attempt to balance conflicting rights and accommodates religious diversity. The right to freedom of religion&nbsp / albeit constitutionally entrenched is subject to reasonable and justifiable limitations. However, no clear guidelines have been formulated on the criteria for limiting the right to freedom of&nbsp / religion. The main aim of this research is to find guiding criteria to facilitate the imposition of limitations on the right to freedom of religion. The limitations of the right to freedom of religion are&nbsp / interrelated with the following research questions: Firstly, the definition afforded to the right to freedom of religion in accordance with national and international standards / secondly, the relationship between culture and religion and any interconnection that exists between these rights. This is followed by the influence of the particular value framework or normative commitments&nbsp / f the judiciary on the interpretation of the right to religion, as well as the relationship between the state and religion. The above issues will be researched both on a national and&nbsp / an international level. The aim is to conduct research that will build on an appreciation of the guidelines that should be employed in ensuring the protection of the right to freedom of religion. To this end comparisons will be drawn with other legal&nbsp / systems, which on the one hand acknowledge the protection of the right to freedom of religion and on the other hand have to find ways in which the right can be balanced in the event of conflict. It is envisaged that the research of the criteria imposed on the limitation of the right to religion both on a national and an international level will assist in suggesting criteria that will influence&nbsp / scholarly debate on the topic. In addition that this debate will allow for the formulation of a transformative approach within the South African context that sanctions the celebration of diversity in all&nbsp / its aspects and in particular the right to freedom of religion.<br /> &nbsp / </p>