Fifty years after the conference in which Law and Religion Scholars held a dialogue with Constitutional Scholars in Siena, central issues of that discussion are recalled, and those of a future debate are envisaged, with the hope that both disciplines might benefit from it.
Papers presented at the panel "The spatial ramifications of religion: new and traditional legal challenges " held at the Annual Conference 2022 of EuARe (European Academy of Religion), which took place in Bologna from 20th to 23rd June 2022 and was organised by FSCIRE.
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. “Breve durata” delle restrizioni e proporzio-nalità: l’interpretazione del Bundesverfassungsgericht - 3. Il Consiglio di Stato francese e la “question de proportionnalité” della libertà di culto - 4. “Secular gatherings” v. “secular businesses”: il tertium comparationis nella giurisprudenza della Corte Suprema statunitense - 5. Emergenza sanitaria e test di proporzionalità nella giurisprudenza di Strasburgo: brevi considerazioni de iure condendo - 6. Conclusioni.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom and the Principle of Proportionalitybefore the Courts: A Comparative Perspective
ABSTRACT: The emergency legislation through which the legal systems have tried to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated new forms of balancing health protection and other fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion. The aim of this paper is to analyse the different ways in which the superior Courts have applied the principle of proportionality, with the purpose of trying to assess the extent to which the different sensitivity of judges (especially as regards the identification of the tertium comparationis) has affected the effective protection of freedom of religion during the pandemic. In particular, a comparison will be made among the statements of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the Conseil d'État and the US Supreme Court, which have balanced the right to health and religious freedom. Short concluding remarks will be addressed to the possible role of Strasbourg jurisprudence in guiding the work of national judges dealing with the proportionality test, also in a post-pandemic perspective.
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L'accomodamento ragionevole: cenni - 3. Dalla laicità come metodo alla reasonable accommodation - 4. (segue) Limiti e aporie - 5. Spunti conclusivi.
Religious symbols and reasonable accommodation ‘all’italiana’ in the recent jurisprudence of legitimacy
ABSTRACT: With the judgment no. 24414/2021, the United Sections of the Court of Cassation identified reasonable accommodation as a possible solution to the issue of religious symbols in public school classrooms. The application of the instrument (traditionally used to protect freedom of religion and belief in the workplace) to the case at hand is undoubtedly characterized by original features that this paper aims to analyze. After having reconstructed the model of reasonable accommodation proposed by the Court, this article tries to verify whether the use of this instrument can be effective and applicable, from a technical-legal point of view, even in the public-school context, which involves principles endowed with axiological primacy, such as that of ‘laicità’. Brief concluding remarks will be addressed to the possible effects of this ruling in those areas of Law and Religion which are characterized by regulatory gaps and/or a high degree of conflict.
SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La religious accommodation in Europa - 3. (segue) Gli sviluppi più recenti - 4. Il ruolo della giurisprudenza europea: primi segnali di apertura all’accomodamento religioso - 5. Il know-how statunitense e canadese: modelli giurisprudenziali a confronto e possibili interazioni - 6. La religious accommodation in Europa: una prospettiva de iure condendo.
The European frontiers of religious accommodation. Starting points for comparison
ABSTRACT: In the last years several scholars pointed out the desirability to extend the accommodation beyond disability. Currently, indeed, a duty of reasonable accommodation is exclusively provided in favour of people with disabilities (art. 5 dir. 2000/78/CE). Previous contributions, however, have stressed how the existing lack of a provision on religious accommodation can result not only in a low level of protection of religious freedom, but also in the rise of a hierarchy related to discrimination grounds in which religion and belief seem to be left at the bottom. Recently, also the European Courts (especially the ECtHR) have apparently open to the extension of the concept of reasonable accommodation, in line with the sensitivity of the Supreme Courts of USA and Canada, where the religious accommodation was first stated. Moving from the comparison between the American and Canadian jurisprudences and the European one, this paper argues about the transposability of the religious accommodation in Europe, in order to strengthen, even in the workplace, the protection of the freedom of religion.