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Religions
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Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach
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Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2019) | Viewed by 26288

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Giordan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, 35123 Padova, Italy
Interests: spirituality; religious pluralism; conversion; interfaith dialogue; Eastern Orthodoxy; religious freedom
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The scientific interest in the topic of religion and human rights is receiving increasing attention beyond the well-grounded legal and philosophical perspectives. During the last two decades, human rights came into the focus of political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists due to the varying policies of human rights application in different socio-political and cultural contexts. These disciplinary shifts towards human rights were accompanied by the introduction of public sociology (Burawoy 2005) with the ‘normative turn’ in sociological knowledge (Blau and Moncada 2009) and broader theoretical discussions on the relationship of religion and human rights (Banchoff and Wuthnow 2011; Joas 2013).

The aim of this issue is to present current theoretical approaches and empirical studies on religion and human rights from the social scientific perspective viewing religious freedom as one of the central element in this relationship. We firstly encourage contributors to address different ways to negotiate human rights principles and standards within religious traditions; and secondly to focus on models of religious governance implemented by the state.

This issue is also looking for papers exploring emerging agenda on human rights in socio-religious perspective, intersectionality of religious freedom with other rights, and analysis of different socio-political and cultural contexts under the condition of cultural and religious diversity affecting human rights regulations. 

Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Giordan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religions and human rights
  • religious freedom
  • sociology of religion

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1382 KiB  
Article
Views on Religious Freedom among Young People in Belarus and Norway: Similarities and Contrasts
by Olga Breskaya and Pål Ketil Botvar
Religions 2019, 10(6), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10060361 - 31 May 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3836
Abstract
The study of religious freedom has not received sufficient empirical attention from sociologists of religion, despite significant theoretical discussion of the governance of religious freedom. This article suggests empirical findings about the views on religious freedom in Belarus and Norway from the international [...] Read more.
The study of religious freedom has not received sufficient empirical attention from sociologists of religion, despite significant theoretical discussion of the governance of religious freedom. This article suggests empirical findings about the views on religious freedom in Belarus and Norway from the international research project “Religion and Human Rights.” The authors explore the effects of religiosity, spirituality, and cultural diversity on young people’s views of religious freedom in two countries. The comparative data from Belarus (N = 677) and Norway (N = 1001) examine patterns of attitudes towards religious freedom considering the effect of trust in institutions within democratic and non-democratic regimes. This two-country analysis reveals that religiosity, cultural diversity and trust in institutions exert a notable influence on religious freedom views in different ways in Belarus and Norway, on both non-religious young people and those from religious minorities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
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18 pages, 280 KiB  
Article
A Context-Grounded Approach to Religious Freedom: The Case of Orthodoxy in the Moldovan Republic
by Davide N. Carnevale
Religions 2019, 10(5), 314; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050314 - 09 May 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4407
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between human rights and social analysis within the main historical and theoretical perspectives adopted by social sciences. In particular, religious freedom will be analysed as one of the central issues in the recent engagement of the social sciences [...] Read more.
This paper explores the relationship between human rights and social analysis within the main historical and theoretical perspectives adopted by social sciences. In particular, religious freedom will be analysed as one of the central issues in the recent engagement of the social sciences with human rights. After examining current narratives and mainstream approaches of the social sciences towards the right to religious freedom, this article will then underline the importance of a social epistemology which goes beyond a normative and legal perspective, bridging the gap between the framework of human rights and the social roles of religion in context. Within this framework, religious freedom represents a social construct, whose perception, definition and implementation dynamically evolves according to its influence, at different levels, in the lived dimension of social relations. The second part of the article proposes a context-grounded analysis of religious freedom in the Republic of Moldova. This case study is characterised by the impressive growth of Orthodoxy after the demise of the Soviet Union and by a complex and contradictory political approach towards religious freedom, both as a legal standard and as a concept. Emerging through the analysis of local political narratives and some preliminary ethnographical observations, the social importance of religion will be investigated both as a governmental instrument and as an embodied means of dealing with widespread socio-economic insecurity, creating tensions between religious rootedness and religious freedom. The local debate on religious freedom will then be related to the influence of geopolitical borders, the topic of traditional identity and the religious form of adaptation to the ineffectiveness of the new secular local policies, with orthodox institutions and parishes having new socio-political roles at both a global and local scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
12 pages, 259 KiB  
Article
Human Rights Issues Arising from the Implementation of Sharia Law on the Minority of Western Thrace—ECtHR Molla Sali v. Greece, Application No. 20452/14, 19 December 2018
by Nikos Koumoutzis and Christos Papastylianos
Religions 2019, 10(5), 300; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050300 - 30 Apr 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4193
Abstract
The Molla Sali case, recently heard by the ECtHR, concerns the compatibility of the implementation of Sharia in the family and personal relations of the Muslims of Western Thrace, who remained within the boundaries of the Greek State after the exchange of populations [...] Read more.
The Molla Sali case, recently heard by the ECtHR, concerns the compatibility of the implementation of Sharia in the family and personal relations of the Muslims of Western Thrace, who remained within the boundaries of the Greek State after the exchange of populations under the Treaty of Lausanne, to the ECHR. The applicant, a Greek national of the Muslim minority of Western Thrace, complained that she could not be beneficiary by testament of her deceased husband’s estate, member of the same minority, since, according to the position of the Court of Cassation, due to a series of international agreements and relevant domestic norms, the law of succession applicable to her case was the Islamic Law that prohibits the testament, instead of the civil law. However, the ECtHR found that the applicant was victim of a violation of article 14 of the ECHR in conjunction with article 1 of Protocol no 1. In this case, the ECtHR considered for the first time the question of the compatibility of a religious community’s separate legal status with the ECHR. The rationale behind the decision is within the framework of the core principles of the Court’s case law on the limits of the autonomy of religious communities and acknowledgement of minority rights. The Court, based on the main line of arguments which constitute the corpus of its jurisprudence on religious and minority issues, ruled that the separate legal status of the Muslim minority cannot justify divergences from the application of the General Law, to the extent that such divergences violate the Greek citizens’ rights enshrined in the Constitution and the ECHR and it condemned Greece on the basis of “discrimination by association”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
18 pages, 921 KiB  
Article
Measuring the Social Perception of Religious Freedom: A Sociological Perspective
by Olga Breskaya and Giuseppe Giordan
Religions 2019, 10(4), 274; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040274 - 16 Apr 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5662
Abstract
This article discusses the construction of the measuring instrument for the study of social perception of religious freedom (SPRF). We provide an overview of existing definitions of religious freedom from a social-science perspective, which ground the empirical research of religious freedom and describe [...] Read more.
This article discusses the construction of the measuring instrument for the study of social perception of religious freedom (SPRF). We provide an overview of existing definitions of religious freedom from a social-science perspective, which ground the empirical research of religious freedom and describe the conceptualization of SPRF. We focus on the operationalization model and introduce the operational variables for the SPRF research, also emphasizing the political, religious, and human rights contexts of independent variables. Finally, the results of exploratory factor analysis that allow to construct the balanced model of SPRF based on statistically weighted factors and scales are presented. The theoretical and statistically tested instrument is discussed as a result of this analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
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7 pages, 196 KiB  
Article
Is There a Right to Choose a Religious Jurisdiction over the Civil Courts? The Application of Sharia Law in the Minority in Western Thrace, Greece
by Eleni Kalampakou
Religions 2019, 10(4), 260; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040260 - 10 Apr 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3474
Abstract
The minority in Western Thrace, Greece, has long enjoyed a special status where family and inheritance matters were subject to Sharia law and religious jurisdiction (Mufti). After judicial controversy for many years over the compulsory character of this “minority privilege”, the matter has [...] Read more.
The minority in Western Thrace, Greece, has long enjoyed a special status where family and inheritance matters were subject to Sharia law and religious jurisdiction (Mufti). After judicial controversy for many years over the compulsory character of this “minority privilege”, the matter has been brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In view of the hearing of the case of Molla Sali v. Greece before the Grand Chamber, the Greek Parliament voted for the possibility for the members of this minority to choose either religious or civil law and jurisdiction—a right for them to exit the minority community. Although a step forward, this right raises a serious challenge to the rule of equality before the law and the right to a fair trial. Therefore, the paper seeks its possible legal foundations in the international obligations of the Greek state to protect religious freedom and the minority community and stresses the need to be accompanied by the “right to voice”, meaning a true reform of the procedure before the Mufti and an effective constitutionality control of his decisions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
19 pages, 267 KiB  
Article
How Does the European Union Talk about Migrant Women and Religion? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Agenda on Migration of the European Union and the Case Study of Nigerian Women
by Paola Degani and Cristina Ghanem
Religions 2019, 10(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10010027 - 02 Jan 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3966
Abstract
Women with different identity and migration origins represent one of the most significant groups in the migration flows of the Mediterranean in recent years and the intersection of their religious identity and gender has been often neglected in migration policies. The paper applies [...] Read more.
Women with different identity and migration origins represent one of the most significant groups in the migration flows of the Mediterranean in recent years and the intersection of their religious identity and gender has been often neglected in migration policies. The paper applies the method of Critical Frame Analysis (CFA) to analyze the ways in which European policy documents address the intersection between gender and religious diversity. Through the CFA, the article examines the European Agenda on Migration and the priorities identified in the text. The analysis of the document is based on recent case studies of trafficked Nigerian women, which provide examples of the dangerous invisibility of ethnic and religious women in the priorities highlighted in the policy document of the European Commission. The CFA results show that the European Agenda on Migration, in responding to the increased number of arriving migrants from Africa and in designing a new approach towards mixed migration flows, lacks any reference to the gender perspective of migration and gender mainstreaming is missing from the text. The neutrality of the document and the securitization frame applied does not take into perspective the importance of recognizing a gender and intersectional dimension of migration flows, which impacts primarily women coming from African countries beholding strong religious beliefs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights: A Social Scientific Approach)
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