Religious Freedom: Rights, Status, and Subjects
Religious Freedom: Fundamental Rights
Freedom of Religion, Ideology, and Conscience
These freedoms are enshrined in Article 16 of the EC and encompass three basic ideas: the state serves the people; religious freedom is a human right inherent to every individual, regardless of citizenship; and religious freedom reflects the rationality and conscience of each person, making it difficult to delineate the boundaries between religious freedom, ideological freedom, and freedom of conscience.
Ideological Freedom
Ideological freedom is defined as immunity from coercion in intellectual pursuits of truth or the adoption of opinions. Its goal is the set of ideas and judgments that a person holds about life, encompassing cultural, scientific, and philosophical thought.
Most doctrines understand atheism to fall within this area. Freedom of ideology has an internal dimension, involving an intellectual position on life, and an external dimension, based on the right to act on one’s beliefs.
Religious Freedom
Religious freedom is the freedom to publicly demonstrate certain religious beliefs. It is a right held by individuals and communities to live by, or disagree with, the demands of a particular religious belief within public order. It includes immunity from coercion.
Religion is understood as a relationship with God, embodied in four dimensions: practice, teaching or belief, worship, and observance of moral norms.
Worship
Worship is a set of rites and ceremonies through which a person tries to connect with divinity. Individuals are free to practice their religion privately or publicly, alone or in association with others.
Freedom of Conscience
Mentioned in Article 30.2 of the EC, freedom of conscience is the foundation of the aforementioned freedoms. It signifies the autonomy to choose any conviction or belief. It consists of the moral judgment of one’s own actions and the actions under that judgment.
Religious freedom is fundamental to the act of faith and the basis for decision-making. It also covers the study of religious practices in all manifestations: individual or collective, public or private. Therefore, it encompasses four dimensions:
- Individual: All citizens hold rights as believers.
- Community: Groups hold rights.
- Internal: This is a private act.
- External: This is a public demonstration.
The Legal Status of Religious Freedom
The legal status of religious freedom is debated. Some consider it a natural, innate right. Others believe it must be positivized as freedom. Discussions also revolve around whether it is an absolute right opposable erga omnes, or a relative right with limits defined by the rights of others and public order. Some view it as a positive right, while others see it as negative.
Furthermore, some argue that fundamental rights predate legal establishment and derive from nature (natural law theory). Others believe that fundamental rights exist only as laid down in law (positivist thesis). A third group believes that basic rights originate from a value system above the law but only acquire the nature of rights after positivization.
In conclusion, religious freedom is a right that:
- By origin, is considered natural.
- By content, is matrix-like, making it impossible to determine the positive manifestations of law.
- By year, is personal, allowing objection against all erga omnes.
- For recipients, belongs to all people.
Subjects of Religious Freedom
Article 16.1 recognizes individuals and communities as subjects. A distinction must be made between active subjects (individuals and communities) and taxpayers (the state par excellence). Active subjects are individuals. Everyone has the right to profess a religion or not. Internally, religious freedom is intertwined with freedom of conscience. Externally, individuals live according to their religious beliefs. Communities possess specific rights that are not merely the sum of individual rights. Internally, denominations organize according to their requirements. Externally, they have the right to establish centers for disseminating their doctrine upon request. This is a way of creating within the law. The taxpayer par excellence is the state.