MINORITY RELIGIONS IN ISRAEL

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Sapir ◽  
Daniel Statman
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Religious Services ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
State Of Israel ◽  
Jewish Religion

AbstractThe article discusses the question of how Israel ought to treat its minority religions and whether its actual policies towards them accord with her moral and constitutional obligations. The first part of the paper offers three arguments purporting to show that Israel is justified in granting privileged status to the Jewish religion over other religions, and rejects each of them in turn. In particular, it rejects the view that Israel is allowed to privilege Judaism over other religions as far as the funding of religious services and needs is concerned. Nonetheless, the possibility that, on the symbolic level, weak privileging of Judaism may be permissible is left open. The second part of the paper questions whether the State of Israel guarantees equal treatment to all religions, and the answer is in the negative. Finally, the paper discusses the religious freedom of non-Jews in Israel and the way it has been interpreted by the courts. It is contended that both in terms of the freedom of religion and in terms of the freedom from religion, the protection of non-Jews is somewhat weaker than that granted to Jews, a state of affairs that ought to be remedied.

Reconciling state promises and practices: Constitutional promises and discrimination against religious minorities

2021 ◽  
pp. 003776862110123
Author(s):  
Roger Finke ◽  
Dane R Mataic
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Independent Judiciary ◽  
Poor Predictor

Research on religious freedom has found a vast chasm between constitutional promises and state practices, with constitutional promises being a poor predictor of the state’s support of religious freedom. This research changes the focus from religious freedom to religious equality. We propose that constitutional promises of religious equality will be associated with less discrimination against minority religions and we explore the relationships governance and the promises of religious equality hold with religious discrimination. We find that promises of religious equality are associated with less discrimination. When exploring the interactions between promises of equality and our governance measures, we find constitutional promises of religious equality largely erase the differences in religious discrimination between countries with and without free elections and an independent judiciary. Yet, the reduced discrimination against minority religions does not suggest that the state removes restrictions on minority religions, only that they are equal with other religions.

The Status of Arabic in Israel: Refiections on the Power of Law to Produce Social Change

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Saban ◽  
Muhammad Amara
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
The State ◽  
French Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Ethnic Nation ◽  
State Of Israel

AbstractThe status of Arabic in Israel gives rise to question. Israel is a rare case of an ethnic nation-state that grants the language of minority group with a legal status which isprima facieone of equality. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel. What are the reasons for this special state of affairs? The answer is threefold: historic, sociological and legal. In various ways the potential inherent in the legal status of Arabic has been depleted of content, and as a result of that, as well as other reasons, the socio-political status of Arabic closely resembles what you would expect the status of a language of a minority group in a state that identifies itself as the state of the majority group to be. This answer, however, is another source of puzzlement – how does such a dissonance between law and practice evolve, what perpetuates it for so long, is change possible, is it to be expected?We present an analysis of the legal status of Arabic in Israel and at the same time we proceed to try and answer the questions regarding the gap between the legal and the sociopolitical status of Arabic. We reach some of our answers through a comparison with the use of law to change the status of the French language in Canada. One of these answers is that given the present constellation in Israel, the sociopolitical status of Arabic cannot meaningfully be altered by legal means.

scholarly journals Framework of communication needed to protect against human rights violations of individuals who exercise their right to religious freedom in minority religions

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanus P. Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Special Rapporteur ◽  
International Level ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Religious Intolerance ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

The right to religious freedom is generally believed to be the solution to religious intolerance and discrimination and to ensure world peace amongst world citizens. On an international level, the United Nations, through the appointment of a special rapporteur for freedom of religion and belief, has introduced a tool to monitor violations of this right. This tool is known as �the framework of communications� and is focused mainly on the relationship between governments and religions. Unfortunately, religion is not excluded from the violation of human rights within its own ranks. This article pointed out that however pure the intention of freedom of religion, no real measures are in place to address violations of human rights in minority religions. Therefore, a tool is needed to investigate and address alleged violations within minority religions.

scholarly journals Religious Freedom Not For All: Homeland Approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (19) ◽  
pp. 185-188
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Zavaliy
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern History ◽  
The West ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Way

The modern history of Ukraine shows that the nation seeks to advance on the European path and meet the level of civilization development of the West. In this state of affairs, one can not ignore the rights of citizens, which are a state-building principle for European communities, namely, the primordial rights and freedoms of its citizens. The European face of Ukraine is formed from many components, including the importance of religious relations in the state, within which the freedom of citizens in general is determined. In 2015, Pope Francis recalled that religious freedom is "a fundamental right that forms the way by which we interact socially and personally with people who are around us, whose religious views may differ from ours."

Freedom of Religion

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-264
Author(s):  
Adam S. Chilton ◽  
Mila Versteeg
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Minority Religions ◽  
Russian Constitution ◽  
The Face ◽  
Constitutional Protections ◽  
Organizational Character

This chapter analyzes the freedom of religion. It first describes the doctrinal aspects of religious freedom, and how it is organizational in nature. It also theorizes why religious groups are particularly well equipped to protect religious freedom, and how the constitution can help them to protect their rights. It then presents results from a global statistical analysis, which reveal that constitutional protections of religious freedom are systematically associated with higher levels of respect for religious freedom in practice. It attributes this finding to the organizational character of religious rights. Religious groups have tremendous capacity to protect their own rights in the face of transgressions of power, especially when they can rely on the constitution. This chapter further illustrates how this can play out with a case study on religious rights in Russia, which tells the story of how religious groups have used the Russian Constitution to mitigate the worst consequences of proposed constitutional violations. Finally, this chapter draws attention to the differences between majority and minority religions.

scholarly journals Freedom of Religion: The Contribution of Contemporary Iranian Reformist Scholars

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
Ali Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Specific Line

This article examines a specific line of thinking shared by several contemporary reformist Iranian religious scholars who present arguments in favor of freedom of religion. Focusing on the ideas of five prominent reformist Iranian scholars—Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945), Muhammad Mujtahed Shabestari (b.1936), Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari (b.1950), Mohsen Kadivar (b.1959), and Ahmad Qabel (d.2012)—the article argues that these thinkers’ defense of freedom of religion is based not only on their interpretations of the Qurʾān and historical Islamic sources, but also philosophical arguments in which concepts from the fields of epistemology and hermeneutics are deployed. As the article demonstrates, some of these scholars connect the notion of freedom of religion to political arguments supporting religious tolerance, or the view that, in order to guarantee religious freedom, the state must be neutral towards the religious orientation of its citizens.

scholarly journals Proselytising the Regulation of Religious Bodies in South Africa: Suppressing Religious Freedom?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radley Henrico
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Personal Belief ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
The Right

In democratic pluralistic and secular societies, freedom of religion is a fundamental right to be enjoyed by all individuals and religious organisations. A unique feature of this human right is the extent to which it is premised on a personal belief. The latter can be "bizarre, illogical or irrational", but nevertheless deserving of protection in the interests of freedom of religion. However, when the expression of a religious belief or practice transgresses the civil or criminal law it must be dealt with in the relevant legislative framework to hold the transgressor liable. Measures taken by the state to regulate religious bodies in terms of a general supervisory council or umbrella body are an unreasonable and unjustifiable interference with freedom of religion, and hence unconstitutional. I am of the view that the right to freedom of religion depends for its constitutional validity – and viability – on there being no interference (or regulation) by the state except in instances as provided for in terms of relevant legislation.    

scholarly journals Religious Freedom for the religious minorities in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis of the insertion of state religion in the constitution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Didarul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
The Status

This research explores the status of religious freedom in Bangladesh for the religious minorities from a critical perspective. The main subject of this research is religious minorities in Bangladesh mainly the Hindus, the Buddhists and the Christians. As Islam is the state religion in Bangladesh constitution, religious minorities feel inferior to the Muslims. This research attempts to explore whether the insertion of ‘state religion’ in the Bangladesh constitution is a threat to freedom of religion in Bangladesh with special preference to religious minorities

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