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Podcast
STELLA COGLIEVINA [Insubria]: The recognition of non-religion…
20 April 12
Duration: 9.41.
Stella Coglievina shared results of research she conducted on religious freedom and discrimination, dealing specifically with the legal treatment of atheism in EU member states.
Firstly, international and European human rights law use the terms “religion and belief” for both religious and non-religious views and convictions. Only in a few cases are “non-religious beliefs” or the “lack of belief” expressly mentioned, in particular in the Constitutions of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Spain.
Even when included specifically, there is no guarantee that the rights granted to non-religion are the same as to religion. For instance France recognises no secular equivalent of a religious holiday.
Secondly, non-religious people do not normally stand up to demand equivalent treatment. If they do, does it make sense to ask for equivalence to religion, while at the same time seeking to abolish the special privileges enjoyed by religion?
Thirdly, since religious freedoms are generally guaranteed in a collective way, one wonders if treatment of non-religious organisations should be granted equivalence to religious denominations. Belgium and Germany do grant equivalent status; Italy has resisted pressure to do so.
The demands made by atheist organisations in Italy have a provocative aim, that at least while financial benefit is tied to recognition of an organisation as religious, atheists too should benefit. But in Belgium and Germany it is now difficult for atheist organisations to promote a more separatist model of relationship between State and religions.
She concluded that basing rights in a model appropriate to religion poses difficulties for guaranteeing respect for non-religious beliefs, but she herself had no answers for this problem.
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