Contenuti per la categoria: Libertà religiosa e alimentazione

The consumption of ayahuasca for cultic purposes: public health order and religious freedom 

ABSTRACT: L’articolo prende spunto dalle motivazioni contenute nella sentenza del Consiglio di Stato n. 9897 del 2023, con cui è stato rigettato definitivamente il ricorso contro l’inclusione dell’ayahuasca nella tabella delle sostanze psicotrope. Dal momento che questo allucinogeno è utilizzato in piccole dosi nelle celebrazioni delle Chiese del Santo Daime, la questione assume importanza al fine di individuare le condizioni e i limiti della libertà religiosa e, in particolare, la libertà di culto. Inoltre, poiché l’art. 19 Cost. si riferisce espressamente al rispetto del buon costume nei riti quale unico vincolo alla libertà religiosa, il contributo proverà a tracciare, alla luce della dottrina e della giurisprudenza, alcuni parametri interpretativi volti a promuovere il bilanciamento tra la libertà di culto, il diritto alla salute, l’autonomia confessionale in materia liturgica, l’autodeterminazione degli individui.

ABSTRACT: The article is inspired by the arguments contained in judgement no. 9897 of 2023 of the Council of State, which rejected the appeal against the inclusion of ayahuasca in the table of psychotropic substances. This narcotic is used in small quantities in the celebrations of the Churches of Daime, so the issue gains importance in identifying the conditions for the exercise of religious freedom and, in particular, freedom of worship. Since article 19 of the Constitution expressly refers only to good customs in religious rites as a limit to religious freedom, the paper will recognize, in the light of doctrine and courts’ judgements, some interpretative parameters aimed at promoting the balance between freedom of worship, right to health, the autonomy of the religious denomination in establishing liturgical principles and norms, the self- determination of individuals.

SOMMARIO: 1. Le Chiese del Santo Daime: origini, credo e struttura - 2. Il Santo Daime in Italia e la vicenda processuale: l’inserimento dell’ayahuasca nella tabella I del T.U. sugli stupefacenti - 3. Il Consiglio di Stato e l’approccio salomonico nel contemperamento della libertà religiosa e del diritto alla salute - 4. Alcune osservazioni: la libertà religiosa tra diritto pubblico subiettivo e interesse legittimo e l’eterno ritorno della clausola di ordine pubblico.

Religiously oriented eating styles and sustainability in the legal experience of the territories facing the Mediterranean Sea 

ABSTRACT: The paper presents the different eating styles created by religious confessions, which were born in the territories facing the Mediterranean Sea, and by oriental religions, which have also taken root in Europe. Some problems that arise in the exercise of religious food freedom within civil legal systems are analyzed. The interrelationships between political institutions, religious confessions and communities ethically committed to sustainable development are studied, in order to use the different food codes to more effectively pursue the unitary objective of improving the health and well-being of living beings in the Euro-Mediterranean area, of wisely exploit environmental resources and redistribute food more equitably.

SOMMARIO: 1. Il cibo nei territori prospicienti il Mar Mediterraneo tra pluralismo etnico-religioso e biodiversità - 2. I diversi codici alimentari delle religioni mediterranee - 3. I rapporti fra ordinamenti civili e religiosi in ordine alla libertà religiosa alimentare - 4. Diritto al cibo, diritto dell’ambiente ed ecologia integrale fra sistemi giuridici religiosi e umanesimi non confessionali - 5. I novel food e i tentativi di greenwashing - 6. La sostenibilità del cibo per “alimentare” il laico sogno europeo di unità nella diversità.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Il caso Casamitjana Costa v. The League Against Cruel Sports - 3. Il veganismo nella giurisprudenza italiana - 4. Pari dignità delle coscienze … - 5. (segue) e specificità del fenomeno confessionale - 6. Definire le convinzioni personali tra libertà del singolo e necessità di accertamento - 7. Spunti conclusivi.

Beyond religious pluralism. Veganism as an expression of freedom of conscience

ABSTRACT: A recent judgement of the Employment Tribunals and a following one of the Tribunal of Bologna recognized veganism as a belief worth of protection. The two judges went beyond the bounds of the religious sphere, exploring the horizon of cultural pluralism, which the Italian Republic, as a secular state, should guarantee. The sentences therefore represent a starting point for addressing the complex issue of the relationship between law and conscience, which recently acquired major importance. As a matter of fact, according to an authoritative doctrine, there is a tendency in all Western legal systems to leave moral or ethical matters to individual self-determination, in accordance with the personalist and pluralist principle. This contribution will then start from the examination of the sentences and then it will deal with some of the main problems concerning freedom of conscience and its protection.

SOMMARIO: 1. Cibo e religione (e mercato) - 2. L’evoluzione storica del rapporto tra cibo e religione - 3. Elementi utili per una definizione giuridica di macellazione rituale - 4. La questione dello stordimento - 5. La sentenza della Grande Chambre della Corte di giustizia del 29 maggio 2018 (causa C-426/16): la posizione dell’Avvocato Generale Nils Wahl - 6. La sentenza della Grande Chambre della Corte di giustizia del 26 febbraio 2019 (causa C-497/17) - 7. Alcune considerazioni (non) conclusive.

Multicultural societies and protection of food identity: some reflections on ritual slaughter.

ABSTRACT: The intensification of migratory flows and the demographic increase of the population of the Islamic religion in Europe now make it unavoidable to consolidate that process of cultural integration between different ethnic, linguistic and religious components, which had already begun a few decades ago in Western countries and aimed at defining of a new model of open and pluralist society. This process calls into question, in various areas - including that of food protection - the values ​​of dignity, freedom and equality on which European democracies are founded, imposing the search for new balances between potentially conflicting interests. This contribution aims to investigate the compatibility profiles between respect for the food identity of religious minorities, the protection of human health and food safety and the prohibition of causing unnecessary suffering to animals, to highlight whether the principle of neutrality accepted by the current EU legislation is indeed the most suitable for promoting the fundamental values ​​of European society.

SOMMARIO: 1. I diritti fondamentali al tempo di pandemia - 2. Il “diritto al cibo” – 3. La normativa speciale anti-epidemica sulla libertà di movimento - 4. Diritti garantiti o libertà compresse?

The religion-oriented right to food during pandemic time

ABSTRACT: In this historical period, the epidemiological emergency has prompted governments, both local and national, to issue a series of measures aimed at tackling the pandemic, with the consequent and inevitable compression of citizens' fundamental freedoms, in particular those regarding movement and religious freedom, on the base of the predominant right to health. In relation to these rights, the problem arises regarding the purchase of religiously oriented food or particular foods for people suffering from certain diseases or allergies. Is it worth to compress, in pandemic times, the fundamental freedom in the name of the predominant right to health? The right to health and the right to food should be to guarantee to all citizens, therefore also to those suffering from particular pathologies or those professing specific religious faith in such a way they are not forced to eat “harmful or impure” food for their psychophysical health.

SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. Brief Remarks on the Notion of Halal - 3. The Interests at Stake in Halal Certification - 4. Actors and Instruments Involved in Halal Certification - 5. The Constitutional Regulation of the Religious Factor and Its Impact on Halal Certification - 6. Halal Italia and the 2010 Inter-Ministerial Convention - 7. Conclusion.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to examine the Italian experience with halal certification and, in particular, the case of Halal Italia. After some brief preliminary remarks on the notion of halal, I will examine the general context of halal certification, by focusing on the interests at stake and on the actors and instruments involved. Next, I will take into account the impact of the constitutional regulation of the religious factor on halal certification. Finally, my analysis will turn to the trademark Halal Italia and the 2010 Inter-Ministerial Convention.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Le regole alimentari nel contesto israeliano e l’irrisolto dualismo (anche simbolico) tra identità collettiva nazionale e religiosa - 3. L’approccio europeo al Kashrut e la questione della macellazione rituale - 4. Le relazioni tra precetti religiosi alimentari ebraici e normativa secolare negli ordinamenti della multiculturalità - 5. Le Kasher food laws negli Stati Uniti - 6. Nota conclusiva.

Judaism and Food: an ancient binomial and the new tendencies on the background of multiculturalism

Abstract: In Judaism, religion and food have always been the terms of a strong spiritual and cultural ‘binomial’, variously affecting the community as well as the individual dimension. In Jewish religious tradition, food is at the same time an instrument of religious elevation, and it represents a powerful factor of collective identity. The paper aims at deepening this binomial in a comparative perspective that takes into consideration some specific features that seem particularly relevant.  a) The role of the Constitutional Courts in the containment of sacred law, according to the Hirshl’s perspective (I. Hirshl, 2010), and in particular the case of Israel where the scope of religious authorities’ prerogative over the issue of kashrut certificates by the Chief Rabbinate represents an important part of the struggle between secular and religious attitudes. The judicial debate on Kashrut contributes to delineate the role of the Supreme Court of Israel in responding to the increased tension between Israel’s dual commitment to liberal-democratic and Jewish values. b) The new conflictual tendencies, in the relation between food and multiculturalism, concerning kosher slaughter in Europe.  c) The relationship between Jewish dietary laws, religious liberties, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause in the United States constitutional system.  Starting from these topics, the paper will try to argue on the manifestation in food law of the intrinsic duality in the state of Israel, together Jewish and democratic, and the reflection of this duality in the other legal systems where constitutional theocracy is prevented by constitutional provisions of secularity and pluralism, but secularism appears in various and different forms.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La libertà religiosa e le regole alimentari religiose - 3. Le regole alimentari religiose e la laicità dello Stato - 4. Il menù quaresimale - 5. L’immunità dall’esposizione - 6. Conclusioni.

Religious dietary rules and school lunch menus: a challenge for secularism?

ABSTRACT: The paper starts from a case of dietary pluralism to discuss the possibility to justify menus sensitive to different religious dietary rules in schools’ canteens. Building on an analysis of the idea of secularism, both in its legal interpretation and in its philosophical understanding in terms of neutrality, I try to show that providing for menus sensitive to different religious dietary rules does not amount to a breach of secularism; it is, rather, a legitimate consequence of the protection of individuals’ rights to freedom of conscience and religion. Moreover, whenever institutions take action to devise and implement such menus they can be taken to act on a commitment to respecting the beliefs of minority groups in society without expecting that these groups, which are often migrant communities suffering of well-known problems of social integration, take on the burden to put forward public claims.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa metodologica - 2. Cenni storici sulle comunità musulmane francesi - 3. La re-invenzione di una tradizione? - 4. Mangiare halal a scuola: l’affaire di Chalon-sur-Saône - 5. Conclusioni.

Halal alimentation and the challenges against french laïcité: the request of alternative menu in the school canteens

ABSTRACT: The article will concern the debate about the balance between secularism and religious-driven prerogatives through a narrow focus on the diffusion of halal food in France. In particular, I will shed light on the increasing request of shari'a-compliant food by Muslims in some social spaces, for instance in the school canteens. My research will unfold its arguments in two sections. In the first one, I will address the recent development of halal market in France and try to frame the reasons of such burgeoning activities - revival of Islam or neoliberal marketing strategy? In the second part, I will consider the sentence of Dijon Administrative Tribunal, which in 2017 abolished the decision of the mayor of Chalon-sur-Saône of suppressing halal menu in the school canteens. The verdict might be read as an opinion favourable to Muslim’s prerogatives. Nonetheless, the rationale of the judgement does lie indeed in the defence of the “best interest of the child”, whereas the basic principles of French laicité were not put into discussion.

SOMMARIO: 1. Una doppia premessa: pluralismo religioso, cibo e scuola – 2. L’Italia, un paese “diverso” – 3. Milano: una città plurale? – 4. Mense scolastiche a Milano – 5. Descrizione della ricerca – 6. I risultati della ricerca nelle scuole statali – 7. Il caso della scuola ebraica – 8. Conclusioni.