Contenuti per la categoria: Diritto ecclesiastico comparato e straniero

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction - 2. The existing model of Coronavirus restrictions and its impact on freedom of religion - 3. Towards a new model of restriction - 4. Advantages of the new model of restrictions - 5. Safeguarding compliance with restrictions - 6. Conclusions.

ABSTRACT: The topic of the article is to evaluate legal measures aimed to stop the spread of the coronavirus that limited religious rights. The restrictions are assessed from the perspective of its effectiveness in preventing infection as well as its proportionality. The argument is that proportionality of the restrictions depends on their effectiveness, which in turn should be evaluated in the light of current pandemic situation, which includes vaccination level and scientific knowledge on coronavirus transmission. Consequently, two kinds of restrictions are distinguished: premises-oriented and activities-oriented. The former focuses mainly on the capacity of the church premises and not so much on the activity of the gathered, whereas the latter pays attention to the activates of the worshippers, including religious practices. Given the epidemiological effectiveness and the balance between protecting public health and religious freedom, activities-oriented restrictions are identified as a proper model of restrictions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Premise - 2. Italy: the relevance of the possibility of satisfying religious feeling through the alternatives offered by computer tools - 3. Germany: the non-belonging of the public exercise of worship to the Wesensgehalt of the right to religious freedom - 4. France: the suspension of religious ceremonies as a “serious and manifestly unlawful interference” with religious freedom - 5. United States of America: the participation in religious services as the “heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty” - 6. Concluding remarks.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to examine the position and the scope of the right to religious freedom in the case law of the national courts of some European and non-European countries, which are called upon to establish the legitimacy or otherwise of the balancing realized by the emergency regulation against Covid-19 between this interest and the equally important one of health. Such evaluations, essentially conducted by the judges using the principle of proportionality (as well as that of reasonableness), betray, in fact, in the phase of verification of the adequacy of the measure (so-called Verhälntismäßigkeit im engeren Sinne) the identification of the sphere of intangibility within the right, removed from further balancing. The systems taken into consideration for this purpose are the Italian, German, French and American ones, identified as significant expressions of different regimes of relations between the State and religious denominations, and, therefore, tending to a different overall attitude of the State towards religious experience.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction - 2. The Protection of Religious Freedom within the Swedish Constitutional Framework - 3. Sweden as a sui generis Legal Order within Europe during the Pandemic and the Specificity of the Measures adopted to counter Covid-19 - 4. Religious Freedom in Sweden during the Covid-19 Pandemic. A Subordinated Protection based on a Trust-Oriented Response - 5. The Legal Culture of ‘Trust’ in the State as the Grounds for the ‘Respectful Collaboration’ of Religious Communities.

ABSTRACT: The Covid pandemic has an enormous impact on individual rights. This is true also for the freedom to manifest one’s religion and Sweden represents an exceptional case study because the strategies the Swedish Government has adopted to limit the spread of the virus are distinct from those adopted in other European countries. The article will first analyse Swedish constitutional provisions with reference to the protection of religious freedom. Second, the article will offer some examples concerning the distinguishing features of the measures adopted by the Swedish Government. Third, attention will be dedicated to the analysis of the conduct of the Church of Sweden and of other religious communities with regard to the governmental decisions to counter Covid-19. The main argument of this article is that the concept of ‘Trust’ can both justify the responses of the religious communities and be used in the broader perspective of the upcoming legislative reforms regarding religious communities.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa - 2. L’adozione delle misure di contenimento tra uguale tempestività e diversità procedurale - 3. Sostanziale uniformità dei provvedimenti - 4. Reazioni diverse alle misure restrittive da parte dei gruppi religiosi e delle associazioni filosofiche non confessionali - 5. Osservazioni conclusive.

Freedom of worship in the time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Standard of protection in Italy, France and Belgium

ABSTRACT: the contribution intends to analyze, through a comparative key, the operational strategies adopted by the Belgian, French and Italian governments and the responses of religious groups affected by the restrictive measures of freedom of worship. The choice of these three States - Belgium, France, Italy - is motivated by the specificity of their models of relations between the State and the religious phenomenon; it allows a perspective view able to offer constructive food for thought. The analysis does not claim to be exhaustive, since the pandemic situation is, unfortunately, still evolving, which makes crisis management policies susceptible to sudden changes and adaptations.
 

SOMMARIO: 1. Le ragioni di una comparazione - 2. Il caso italiano: una breve cronistoria normativa - 3. Primi appunti giurisprudenziali per un corretto “bilanciamento” - 4. Verso un accomodamento ragionevole - 5. Il paradigma francese e l’opera di bilanciamento del Conseil d’État - 6. Alcune considerazioni in termini di bilanciamento fra libertà di culto e tutela della salute - 7. Minime notazioni di sistema a mo’ di conclusione.

The "perils" of religious freedom at the time of the pandemic: an impossible balance? Comparative remarks between Italy and France

ABSTRACT: The essay aims to analyze the measures adopted in the Italian and French legal systems to regulate the exercise of religious freedom during the Covid-19 emergency. The analysis is conducted by observing the various regulatory provisions in the light of the balancing test and the principles of proportionality and reasonableness. This way, the paper will try to verify the overall strength of the constitutional system in times of crisis and the protection of fundamental rights during an emergency.
 

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. Premessa - 2. Metodo concertativo, bilateralità e laicità - Paesi diversi, bilanciamenti simili.

Concertative method and balancing techniques in the legal discipline of religious freedom in times of emergency (about the reports by Silvia Baldassarre, Simone Gianello and Paolo Zicchittu)

ABSTRACT: In this contribution, which takes its cue from the reports by Silvia Baldassarre, Simone Gianello and Paolo Zicchittu, the author makes some brief considerations about the method followed - and the balancing results achieved - by the political decision-maker in the emergency management of religious freedom.

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa: sui così detti limiti impliciti - 2. Le misure limitative della libertà religiosa alla prova dei test di bilanciamento - 3. Il ritorno della specialità (o del privilegio) nella seconda fase della pandemia.

The problem of limits to religious freedom under the pandemic test: specialty or privilege? (about the reports by Silvia Baldassarre, Simone Gianello and Paolo Zicchittu)

ABSTRACT: In this contribution, which takes its cue from the reports by Silvia Baldassarre, Simone Gianello and Paolo Zicchittu, the author makes some brief remarks on the subject of limits to religious freedom, the difficulties of balancing them, and the legitimacy of differential treatment between spiritually connoted activities.

SUMMARY: 1. Religion and citizenship - 2. Religion and migration - 3. The controversial stance on religion, citizens and migrants - 4. Promoting Western values or international standards of human rights protection? - 5. Concluding remarks.

ABSTRACT: In a controversy concerning the legitimacy of the wearing of the Sikh kirpan in the public space, the Italian Court of Cassation stated that immigrants have the obligation to conform their values to those of the Western world. This is but one case when a migrant’s religion has been assumed - in the public and political debate and in courts - to draw a line between what belongs to the Western civilization and what does not. This paper aims to challenge the ‘West versus non-West’ approach, by examining the interplay between religion, citizenship and migration, and by stressing that democratic countries are such only as long as they remain pluralist and accommodate diversity. Although limitations on unacceptable manifestations of religion do apply, these must pursue only legitimate aims under international standards, which do not include such a thing as the protection of Western values.

 SOMMARIO: 1. Considerazioni introduttive - 2. I casi di rifiuto opposto da pasticcieri per motivi religiosi di vendere torte commissionate da clienti omosessuali - 3. Libertà di contrarre e interessi contrapposti - 4. L’attuale assetto del quadro normativo in materia di diritto contrattuale antidiscriminatorio - 5. I tentativi della dottrina civilistica di ricondurre la materia all’interno di una cornice di coerenza sistematica - 6. Una inedita rappresentazione in ambito europeo del difficile equilibrio tra libertà di espressione e divieto di discriminazione a causa dell’orientamento sessuale - 7. Dalla libertà di espressione alla libertà di creazione “artistica” il passo è breve? - 8. La decisione di inammissibilità del ricorso presentato davanti alla Corte di Strasburgo dall’attivista di QueerSpace.

“The Icing on the Cake”. Looking for the Right Balance between the Baker’s Freedom and the Prohibition of Discrimination of the Same-Sex Couples

ABSTRACT: When a baker refuses to sell a cake for the wedding of a homosexual couple on religious grounds, a conflict arises between two fundamental rights, equality, and freedom of religion. In some cases, freedom of expression may also be involved. This article examines the question of whether these rights can be balanced, considering the doctrinal approach to anti-discrimination contract law and the most recent case law.