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

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Il Primo emendamento e le garanzie gemelle dell’Establishment Clause e del Free Exercise Clause: una panoramica ricostruttiva - 2.1. I tre principali test utilizzati dalla Corte in sede di judicial review e basati sul Primo emendamento: il Lemon test, l’Endorsement test e il Coercion test - 2.2. La recente sentenza Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. del 27 luglio 2022: l’abbandono (definitivo) del Lemon test in favore del criterio ermeneutico orientato alla “history and tradition” - 3. Le origini e la mobilitazione politica del motto degli Stati Uniti d’America - 3.1. Il XVIII secolo, la Rivoluzione americana e la diffusione del motto “E Pluribus Unum” - 3.2. Il XIX secolo e la Guerra Civile: la giustapposizione di “In God We Trust” accanto a “E Pluribus Unum” - 3.3. Il XX secolo e la Guerra fredda: “In God We Trust” diventa (l’unico) motto nazionale - 3.4. I diversi usi del motto nazionale lungo il dispiegarsi della storia - 4. Le caratteristiche dell’American civil religion e le sue ambivalenze - 5. Il motto nazionale in alcuni significativi obiter della Corte suprema: il deismo cerimoniale e le sue critiche - 5.1. Il deismo cerimoniale in alcune pronunce della Corte suprema - 5.2. Le riflessioni (preoccupate) della dottrina - 6. Riflessioni conclusive e spunti di comparazione - 6.1. L’uso della storia e della cultura nell’ordinamento italiano: cenni di comparazione sull’insegnamento della religione cattolica e sull’esposizione del crocifisso a scuola - 6.2. L’altro verso dell’American civil religion: ideologia e populismo.

The U.S. motto "In God We Trust" in light of the history and tradition “of the First Amendment

ABSTRACT: This essay reflects upon the U.S. national motto “In God We Trust” and religious liberty. It describes the birth and the life of the U.S. national motto from an historical and a normative perspective, and in relation with three crucial events that forged the United States’ historical conscience: the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Cold War. It highlights how the motto has embraced different purposes and meanings, as well as attained varying levels of religiosity. After having introduced the main features of American civil religion, the paper pays attention to the various obiter that the Supreme Court has offered about the constitutionality of this symbol. The conclusions focus on two aspects: a brief comparison with the Italian legal system, which underlines the existing similarities between the “history and tradition” argument fostered by the U.S. Supreme Court and the appeal to the “historical heritage” and the “religious culture” that can be found in the Italian legal and political debates on the display of the crucifix in the classroom and the teaching of the Catholic religion. Secondly, they reflect about the ideological and illiberal turn that the American civil religion may take.

SOMMARIO: 1. La nozione di ministro di culto nell’ordinamento italiano - 2. Origini storiche della figura civilistica del ministro di culto - 3. Principi ispiratori dell’attuale normativa sui ministri di culto - 4. La normativa sui ministri di culto: le fonti - 5. Disposizioni restrittive sui ministri di culto - 6. I ministri di culto nel diritto penale - 7. I ministri di culto nella legislazione pattizia - 8. Ministri di culto e giurisdizione confessionale, tra autonomia e tutela dei diritti - 9. Il sostentamento dei ministri di culto - 10. La remunerazione del ministro di culto: natura della prestazione e tutela giurisdizionale - 11. Le molteplici attività socialmente rilevanti dei ministri di culto - 12. Problemi, vecchi e nuovi, e prospettive di riforma - 13. Osservazioni conclusive.

The ministers of religion in Italian law

ABSTRACT: This contribution analyses the status of ministers of religion in the Italian legal system. It starts from a description of the historical foundations, which lies in Nineteenth-century liberal legislation, and arrives at a synthetic representation of the regulations currently in force in the unilateral State law and in the Concordat and Treaty legislation. The regulatory evolution, which is still in progress, describes the transition from a uniform and homogeneous concept of minister of religion, inspired by the Catholic priest and placed at the basis of a mostly restrictive legislation, to a more articulate and comprehensive one, reflecting the growing confessional pluralism of Italian society and the assertion of the right to religious freedom. This new approach represents the premise for a legislation that increasingly aims at protecting and promoting the status and the manifold activities of ministers of religion, particularly in the context of the strong enhancement of the Welfare State and of the Third sector. Finally, the article focuses on some problematic issues of the current legislation and on the apparent paradox that, in the face of a more favorable State legislation, nowadays the status of the minister of religion, and in particular that of the Catholic priest - who still represents the main reference for Italy’s legislation - is undergoing a strong identity crisis in the ecclesial order, thus posing a series of problems also for society at large.

SOMMARIO: 1. Precisazioni introduttive - 2. Il quadro normativo vigente nell’ordinamento italiano in materia di incitamento all’odio religioso - 3. I punti di forza dell’individuazione nel bene della “dignità” dell’interesse protetto nella repressione degli hate speech - 4. … e gli ineliminabili profili di criticità - 5. Incitamento alla discriminazione e alla violenza tra pericolosità sociale e umiliazione personale.

Incitement to religious hatred and protection of personal dignity

ABSTRACT: After a brief overview of the current legal framework in the Italian legal system concerning incitement to religious hatred, the Author analyzes the strengths and the weak points of the current thesis that identifies the good of human dignity as the interest protected by the repressive regulations on hate speech.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione: tre domande sulla difficile costruzione di una società pluralista. Dalla Costituente ai fatidici anni ’70 - 2. La fase applicativa delle norme costituzionali in materia di libertà religiosa: fra tentennamenti politici, violazioni della legalità costituzionale e complessità sociale - 3. La “governance” nelle relazioni tra sfera pubblica e fenomeno religioso - 4. Il “cantiere Europa”: le possibilità di una democrazia (in crisi) - 5. Conclusioni.

It ought to be necessary a new Italian governance for religious freedom

ABSTRACT: This work highlights, in a descriptive fashion, some of the critical aspects of the relationships between the State and religious groups in Italy. Concrete legal policy proposals are suggested, within the applicable constitutional framework, taking into account the changed social, cultural and religious context of the country.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La monarchia di Idris Al Senussi e la Costituzione del 1951 - 3. L’Islam nella Libia di Re Idris - 4. Moammar Gheddafi e la Terza Teoria Universale: l’Islam all’interno del “Nuovo” sistema libico - 5. Gheddafi e il movimento islamista - 6. La caduta di Gheddafi, la Dichiarazione Costituzionale del 2011 e l’Islam - 7. L’ultima bozza del 2017 e i contrasti infiniti - 8. Brevi riflessioni.

The Constitution and the role of Islam in Libya from independence to the fall of Moammar Gaddafi: origins and perspectives

ABSTRACT: This study aims to retrace Libya's constitutional path from Independence, obtained in December 1951, up to the "post-Gaddafi" era, which began with his fall in October 2011 and where the agreement on a new Constitution is still today - after more than ten years - one of the thorniest issues in the construction of a real Libyan State. Particular emphasis will be given to the religious aspect that has characterized the Constitutional Charter of Libya in its short national history and to the religious challenges faced in the different historical phases. The study will be divided into three parts. The first one will try to frame the constitutional discourse in the new independent Libya under the monarchy of King Idris al-Senussi. In the second part, will be addressed to the drastic changes that occurred with Moammar Gaddafi's rise to power. Finally, in the last part will try to draw a picture of what the situation is today and to understand what are actually the obstacles that are holding back an agreement between the rival factions (East and West) on a shared Constitution.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. La circolare misteriosa - 3. Sulla presunta “forza normativa” di una circolare - 4. Vedere il proprio nome su una tomba: un problema “giuridicamente irrilevante”? - 5. Il sonno della ragione genera mostri.

 About the ‘scarlet letter’: A ‘legally irrelevant’ problem? Some considerations

ABSTRACT: The contribution, stimulated by a rebuttal article, delves into the issue of the unsolicited burial of foetuses; it reconstructs the research work on the Cattin Circular, which founds the moral duty of such burial. The Circular cannot be found at the Ministry of Health itself.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. Il caso del Montenegro: identità nazionale e identità religiosa - 3. La costruzione di un’identità nazionale - 4. Prodromi di un divorzio annunciato - 5. Personalità giuridica delle Chiese e patrimonio religioso - 6. Beni culturali contesi - 7. Verso una risoluzione dei contrasti con la Chiesa ortodossa serba? - 8. Patrimonio culturale montenegrino e ruolo delle organizzazioni internazionali - 9. Conclusioni.

 Religious freedom, cultural heritage and identity: the case of Montenegro

ABSTRACT: With the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, the Balkan populations found themselves having to face the necessity of replacing their common Slavic origins with national identities that found a solid point of reference in religion. The cultural heritage, at first common thanks to Tito's unifying work, became again the heritage of the single nationalities and the object of ethnic-local identity claims. In this situation, the anchorage to cultural heritage and the particular care taken by governments to claim its management and control, become instruments of identity whose effects inevitably reverberate on the delicate balance between the religious communities present in the different territories. The case of Montenegro shows the complicated relationship between the protection of cultural heritage, national identities and religious belonging to the different components of Orthodoxy, each of which claims exclusive and unique ownership over their respective territories, thus contributing to rewrite the contents of cultural heritage, reducing it to an increasingly local dimension. Thanks to the work of international organizations such as UNESCO with "its" world heritage and the Council of Europe, which is working to promote diversity and dialogue in the field of cultural heritage, this regains its dignity, respecting the citizens' feelings and their quality of life.

SOMMARIO: 1. ‘E la mirabile coppia apparve’: prolegomeni allo studio dei rapporti tra gaming and religion ˗ 2. Una mappatura del campo di indagine dei Digital Religion Studies: gaming as religion, didactic digital games … ˗ 3. … religion in gaming: ovvero cattedrali, moschee, schiere di angeli e demoni nelle narrazioni videoludiche ˗ 4. ‘Gli amori difficili’: la problematica relazione tra gaming and religion ˗ 5. Il diritto sulla scena: gaming and religion con gli ‘occhiali del giurista’ ˗ 6. Un puzzle di norme diverse e contrastanti: una radiografia sulla libertà di panorama in Europa … ˗ 7. … e in Italia ˗ 8. Postille conclusive: spunti di riflessione de iure condendo.

Religious symbols and cultural heritage in videogames: intersections between gaming and religion, or two inescapably communicating destinies. New spaces for research and theoretical reflection

ABSTRACT: Within a multiple reading grid, this contribution aims first of all to focus on the theme of the migration of religious symbols outside their natural ecosystem, electing videogames among the many ‘profane’ and even 'pop' languages ​​of mass media society. Starting from the ancient marriage between games and religion, we will investigate the forms in which the religious material ˗ Christian and non ˗ is shaped within the world of videogames, trying to perimeter the field of investigation of that very particular line of research called Digital Religion Studies. Subsequently, starting from the famous case of Manchester cathedral, we will try to demonstrate the problematic nature of the relationship between gaming and religion. By shifting the wide angle to the field of law, the legal regime reserved for videogames will be elucidated, albeit skeletally, and then highlight how the classification systems of videogame contents do not protect the religious feeling of the faithful. The Manchester controversy will also provide an opportunity to investigate that labyrinthine plexus of provisions that governs the digital reproducibility of cultural heritage. It will end with some de jure condendo reflections on the regulation of religious data in videogames and on the subject of freedom of the panorama.

ABASTRACT: This contribution introduces the special issue and focuses on the content of its first section, including contributions by Javier Martínez-Torrón (and related comments by Pierluigi Consorti), Maksymilian Hau, Valerio D’Alò, Giuseppina Scala and Matteo Giannelli.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. The coronavirus crisis: a tragedy and an opportunity - 2. Demanding governments’ accountability - 3. The conditions for legitimate restrictions on freedom of religion or belief - 4. The significance of equality and State’s neutrality for the protection of religious freedom - 5. Advantages of dialogue and cooperation between State and religion - 6. Support and doubts in the reaction of religious communities to governmental measures - 7. Final remarks.

ABASTRACT: This article explores peculiarities of the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to other health crisis experienced in the past. Each character is thoroughly examined in the article. The article focuses on four thematic areas: the legal regulation of the fight against coronavirus; the equality of treatment of religious freedom in relation to other fundamental rights; the cooperation between the State and religious communities; and the reactions of religious communities to governmental measures. The article argues that rather than raising new questions, COVD-19 has forced us to deal with familiar questions under unprecedented circumstances. In this frame, time has played a central role as a factor to be taken into account to scrutinize the legitimacy of measures introducing severe limitations to fundamental rights and freedoms. Finally, the article claims that from a legal perspective, the experience of the past months reveals that, especially in times of crisis, we need a scrupulous respect for the requirements of the rule of law, including a strict accountability and transparency from governments, and putting especial emphasis on the protection of fundamental rights, among which is freedom of religion or belief.