Contenuti per la categoria: Libertà di coscienza e di religione, individuale e collettiva

The “reasonable accommodation” in Italian jurisprudence in ecclesiastical matters

ABSTRACT: With judgment n. 24414/2021, the United Sections of the Supreme Court suggested “reasonable accommodation” as a key to resolving conflicts over religious symbols in public school classrooms. This approach, which is typically used to promote equality for workers with disabilities, has been applied to this dispute in a novel way. This paper intends to reconstruct the Court’s proposal of a “reasonable accommodation” model after analyzing the original features of this approach. From the investigation of nature and the application of “reasonable accommodation” in the decision of the Court, this work seeks to verify whether this model can be effectively and legally relevantly applied in the public school context.

SOMMARIO: 1. Il crocifisso e l’inedita chiave di risoluzione dei conflitti dopo la sentenza n. 24414 delle Sezioni Unite della Corte di cassazione - 2. La natura del principio del “ragionevole accomodamento” - 3. Il “ragionevole accomodamento” come metodo “mite” - 4. Limiti e prospettive - 5. Brevi osservazioni conclusive.

"The pessimism of my book". Carl Einstein in the first blasphemy trial of the Weimar Republic

ABSTRACT: The conviction for blasphemy imposed in 1922 on the writer Carl Einstein for the comedy Die schlimme Botschaft provides us with the opportunity of using the debate on crimes against religion to reflect on the epochal transition from the Wilhelminian Empire to the Weimar Republic. A picture emerges marked by strong contradictions, which manifest themselves also in violent street clashes and innumerable political murders, highlighting that the change of regime and the promulgation of the Constitution were not enough to overcome the profound resistance of a strongly conservative culture, still deeply rooted in the administration, judiciary and army leaders.

SOMMARIO: 1. Un triste anniversario - 2. La blasfemia: un dibattito ‘ponte’ tra primo e secondo Reich - 3. Il riformismo di Kahl e la tregua tra classici e moderni - 4. Dall’abrogazionismo militante di Thümmel alla conservazione di Moser - 5. La vexata quaestio del bene giuridico - 6. L’insuccesso dei progetti di riforma - 7. La formazione critica di Einstein tra poetica e politica - 8. Primitivo, immediato, proletario - 9. Dalla rivolta alla rinuncia - 10. Sanguinosamente serio - 11. Rassegnazione e blasfemia: La cattiva novella - 12. Verso il processo - 13. Un procedimento ‘per sentito dire’ - 14. La parola all’imputato: “Dio ridotto in articoli” - 15. “Invecchiati troppo in fretta”

Parents-children Relationship: The Role of Freedom of Religion and Conscience

ABSTRACT: This article analyses the most recent case law concerning the role of freedom of religion and conscience in the parents-children relationship. There are essentially two disputed issues: first, to what extend the increased capacity for choice of the child may conflict with the educational role of parents; second, in which way to promote the development of the child in an open and peaceful environment, reconciling the rights of his parents.

SOMMARIO: 1. Notazioni preliminari - 2. Le divergenze tra i genitori sulla scelta dell’insegnamento della religione cattolica - 3. Le divergenze tra i genitori sulla scelta tra scuola pubblica o privata confessionale - 4. L’interesse “superiore” del minore a un ambiente aperto e pacifico e il dubbio del perpetuarsi di una discriminazione religiosa dei genitori appartenenti a minoranze confessionali - 5. I rischi di una crescita di interesse per l’homeschooling determinata dall’esigenza di un pieno controllo educativo dei genitori sui figli minori - 6. Libertà religiosa dei genitori e tutela della salute del minore - 7. Beni relazionali, interesse del minore e libertà educativa dei genitori.

The right to religious freedom and its exercise between centralisation and self-goverment. Lights and shadows in the Spanish experience

ABSTRACT: The analysis of the regulation of religious freedom and its exercise in Spain, where a quasi-federal system of territorial distribution of power is in force, highlights the existence of regulatory disparities that cause differences in its exercise, hindering real equality in the enjoyment of this right. The removal of these obstacles requires twofold action. On the one hand, regulatory changes are needed to adapt the regulation of the exercise of religious freedom to the reality of a decentralised territorial model, so as to adapt the exercise of the right to the specific reality of religious diversity in each territory. But, on the other hand, it requires that equality of the basic conditions for the exercise of the right to religious freedom be guaranteed; which, in such a model, must be done through intergovernmental cooperation (in the so-called " Sectoral Conferences ").

SUMARIO: 1. Introducción - 2. El desarrollo del derecho de libertad religiosa por la Ley Orgánica de libertad religiosa - 3. La regulación del ejercicio de la libertad religiosa en las comunidades autónomas. ¿Existe cooperación entre el Estado y las CCAA y de estas entre sí que garantice la igualdad en el ejercicio de la libertad religiosa? - 4. Comunidades autónomas y el ejercicio de la libertad religiosa - 5. Instrumentos de cooperación intergubernamental e interadministrativa - 6. Los Acuerdos con rango de ley con las confesiones religiosas en el sistema de fuentes.

Principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of religion in EU law and national approaches to the "neutrality" of the public employee 

ABSTRACT: For the first time, the Court of Justice of the European Union has been called upon to give a preliminary ruling on prohibition on wearing visible signs of political, philosophical or religious belief imposed by a public employer, from the perspective of the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of religion enshrine in the Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 (establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation). After a look at principles of State neutrality in France, Germany and Belgium, the paper examines this issue by taking a cue from the Conclusions presented by the Advocate General in case C‑148/22. According to the Author, national identity, to which Article 4(2) TEU refers, leaves in this particular sector a wide margin of discretion to the Member States.

SOMMARIO: 1. Notazioni introduttive - 2. La rivendicazione del diritto della dipendente comunale belga di indossare il velo islamico e l’oggetto della questione sollevata davanti alla Corte di giustizia - 3. Le peculiarità nelle declinazioni nazionali del principio di “neutralità” dei pubblici dipendenti di Francia, Belgio e Germania. La “neutralità esclusiva” francese - 4. (segue) Il caso emblematico della particolare posizione dei genitori che in Francia accompagnano i figli nelle gite scolastiche - 5. (segue) L’approccio tendenzialmente inclusivo della Germania - 6. (segue) Le incertezze interpretative riguardanti la neutralità belga - 7. La sostanziale “privatizzazione” della controversia operata dall’Avvocato generale - 8. Accezioni “forti” e “deboli” di neutralità del pubblico dipendente e il discutibile profilarsi di un loro diverso impatto sull’identità costituzionale degli Stati membri - 9. Una conclusione provvisoria.

Institutional loyalty, religious fidelity and moral integrity in a democracy

ABSTRACT: The deontological and contractualist ethical approach in support of democracy has limits because it does not respect personal moral autonomy. This does not allow the single person to be loyal to public institutions, faithful to religion and morally consistent. Therefore, a consequentialist approach to the rules is proposed.

SOMMARIO: 1. Democrazia e religione - 2. Laicità e libertà - 3. Ragione e morale.

ABSTRACT: The article offers a careful analysis on the way the end of the USSR and the growth of the Orthodox presence in the European Union have challenged the concept of canonical territory. In the West, this has produced a phenomenon of the territorialization of the exercise of religious freedom. It is examined how the potential access to the EU of Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and Northern Macedonia will influence the relevance of these Churches in the relations that the Union maintains with them in application of art. 17 TFUE. Indeed, this relation is strengthened by the great consistency of the Orthodox diaspora in the West and by the development and growth of Eparchies abroad, created by the respective national Churches. Therefore, it is appropriate to reflect on the need for identifying self-preservation of all religions and in particular of the Orthodox one, in order to guarantee the balance and orderly development of the Union's institutional political system in a relationship compatible with the needs of separation and secularism of the States. Two key factors are the political crisis of the USSR and the granting of autocephaly to the ecclesiastical communities operating in the states which had become sovereign: this has weakened the Moscow Patriarchate and its role in the Orthodox ecumenical system; at the same time, the ecumenical patriarchate, which claims its exclusive right to grant autocephaly, has proceeded to “contractualize” the nature of his primacy through the structure of the Tomas.

Is it possible to measure religious or belief minority rights?

ABSTRACT: Is it possible to measure how much the legal systems of the European Union countries respect and promote the rights of religious or belief minorities? Based on the findings of the Atlas of religious or belief minority rights research project (https://atlasminorityrights.eu), this article answers the question in the affirmative. The paper is divided into three parts. The first briefly describes the methodology and techniques used to measure minority rights. They are determined by the answers given to some preliminary questions that are discussed in the second part of the contribution. The last section of the article outlines the purpose and value of measuring religious or belief minority rights.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La misurazione dei diritti delle minoranze di religione e convinzione - 3. L’oggetto e i confini della misurazione - 4. L’utilità della misurazione.

The blanket of silence: fears and hopes

ABSTRACT: The silence of the parties governing the country and those belonging to the opposition persists. Their political orientation on the 'ecclesiastical matters' is yet to be shared, as well as their position on the need for a more general law on religious freedom. The new conservative government keeps silent. There are signs of a possible failure to comply with the pluralistic principle, which is the cornerstone of the secular nature of the State. Between hopes and fears, the latter could prevail.

A "bloodhound" at the “Last Supper”: religious references in commercial communication under scrutiny by the Italian Advertising Self-Regulation Institute

ABSTRACT: Since the birth of commercial advertising there has been a widespread use of religious references in the creation of promotional material, in some cases even distorting, trivializing, or exploiting the representations of the Sacred symbols. So, it is important to properly to understand whether and within what limits the use of religious references in advertising should be admitted, as well as the possible protection that can be granted to religious sentiment which may be harmed by such use. Starting from the recent case relating to the segugio.it commercial, this contribution examines the issue with regard to the provisions contained in an important soft law instrument of the Italian legal system, i.e. the Advertising Self-Regulatory Code, and the rulings made in its application by the decision-making bodies of the Advertising Self-Regulation Institute.

SOMMARIO: 1. I riferimenti religiosi nella pubblicità commerciale - 2. La disciplina italiana della pubblicità commerciale in relazione al sentimento religioso e il Codice di Autoregolamentazione della Comunicazione Commerciale - 3. Il concetto di offesa al sentimento religioso delineato dalle pronunce dell’I.A.P. - 4. I precedenti “usi” pubblicitari dell’Ultima Cena - 5. Un tentativo di conclusione.