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.
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.
About the Modification of the Choice to Attend or not Attend Teaching of Catholic Religion. A School Point of View
ABSTRACT: A recent judgement of the Judicial Administration has authorized the free modification of the choice to attend or not attend teaching of Catholic Religion in Italian schools, against the Concordat between Italian Republic and Holy See. The article discusses the judgement formally (highlighting a lack of jurisdiction) and on the substance (a confusion between a cultural and a cultic meaning of the teaching). In addition to institutional relations between State and Church, there are epistemological consequences on the nature of the same teaching.
SOMMARIO: 1. Attualità del problema - 2. La normativa sulle iscrizioni e la scelta di avvalersi o non avvalersi dell’insegnamento della religione cattolica (Irc) - 3. Il caso in giudizio - 4. Sul difetto di giurisdizione - 5. Le motivazioni della sentenza: il richiamo alla libertà di culto - 6. Un Irc culturale o cultuale? - 7. Un bilanciamento poco equilibrato - 8. L’Irc come disciplina scolastica - 9. In attesa di revisioni.
About mysterion tes anomias (2Tess, 2): nomos and human rights in the digital era
ABSTRACT: The paper is a thought starting from the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians by Paul The Apostle in order to analyze the current relevance of nomos as a conceptual instrument helpful to define and settle the juridical systems facing challenges of digital era.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. “È già in atto” - 2.1. “Il regno di senso della terra” - 2.2. La rinunzia papale - 2.3. La dissoluzione soteriologica - 3. La profezia schmittiana - 3.1. I Katechon - 4. Il triplice mistero - 5. Un mistero che illumina - 6. L’anomia - 6.1. “Il sistema-mondo” - 6.2. “Ennemos Christou” - 6.3. La volontà di potenza - 7. L’ambivalenza katechontica - 7.1. Il Papa emeritus - 8. La prova - 9. La visione nomica - 9.1 Il processo selettivo - 10. I diritti fondamentali dell’uomo - 10.1. L’inversione anomica - 11. La re-ontologizzazione del Digitale - 12. L’opzione di fondo.
SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa: la laicità giuridica - 2. L’enunciazione - 3. La definizione - 4. La riscrittura.
Abstract: In his brilliant work on «La laicità penale alla sfida del "secolo delle paure"» Carlo Enrico Paliero highlighted the distance between positive legal systems and a supposed (ideal-typical) archetype of 'laicità', of which the single legal system represents a "mestizo" model. The iconic image restores the complexity of any definitional challenge on 'laicità'. Law, unfolding as a practical science, has gradually managed to circumvent the obstacle through a process of empirical signification, derived, at times, from concrete needs. Therefore, it would be improper, if not arbitrary, to attempt to offer a contribution on legal 'laicità' in disregard of the events that have characterized its absence from the text of the Charter and the demands of ordinal self-protection that have determined, instead, the subsequent 'unveiling' or 'creation' of the unexpressed principle.
SUMMARY: 1. Introduction - 2. The necessary conditions of social negotiation - 3. Nordic Secularism - 4. Organic religious literacy - 5. Translation - 6. Conclusion.
ABSTRACT: The refusal to shake hands with a female reporter by a Muslim politician from the Miljöpartiet resulted in a controversy in Sweden. Together with a number of court cases, it revealed a disparity between the established judicial line and the views of the general public. The Swedish controversy received a response from Denmark, where the ruling coalition introduced new citizenship legislation with an obligation to shake hands with the mayor during a naturalization ceremony. These controversies highlighted the rising tensions on multiple levels, between majority and minority, religious freedom and gender equality, law and public opinion. This paper takes a closer look at the role of law as a negotiator and employs the notions of Nordic secularism, organic religious literacy, and the ethos of hospitality towards the untranslatable, in order to answer two questions: where these tensions come from and what are the possible ways of overcoming them.
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. 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.