The Judicial Protection of Religious Symbols in Europe's Public Educational Institutions: Thank God for Canada and South Africa

Q3 Social Sciences

Muslim World Journal of Human Rights Pub Date : 2011-01-12 DOI:10.2202/1554-4419.1216

H. ten Napel, Florian H. Karim Theissen

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

How should judges deal with the manifestation of religious symbols in public educational institutions? In light of the important role of human rights in our legal and political system, courts should grant maximum protection under the freedom of religion or belief. The central thesis of this article is that the European Court of Human Rights fails to live up to this standard. In order to reach this conclusion, the article analyzes relevant case law of the European Court and compares its case law with that of the high courts of Canada and South Africa. In addition, the article assesses the case law of all three courts from the angle of interpretation theory and particularly Cass R. Sunsteins theory of judicial minimalism. Adoption of a more consistently minimalist methodology by the European Court might lead to a greater protection granted to individuals and groups. However, a wide and deep ruling is first required to overturn the current line of reasoning. The European Court can draw inspiration from Canada and South Africa for such a judgment.

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欧洲公共教育机构中宗教符号的司法保护:感谢加拿大和南非

法官应如何处理宗教符号在公共教育机构中的表现?鉴于人权在法律和政治体系中的重要作用，法院应最大限度地保护宗教信仰自由。本文的中心论点是，欧洲人权法院未能达到这一标准。为了得出这一结论，本文分析了欧洲法院的相关判例法，并将其与加拿大和南非高等法院的判例法进行了比较。此外，本文还从解释理论的角度，特别是桑斯坦的司法极简主义理论，对这三个法院的判例法进行了评价。欧洲法院采用一种更一贯的最低限度的方法，可能会使个人和群体得到更大的保护。然而，要推翻目前的推理思路，首先需要一个广泛而深刻的裁决。欧洲法院可以从加拿大和南非的判决中得到启发。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Muslim World Journal of Human Rights Social Sciences-Law

CiteScore

0.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Muslim World Journal of Human Rights promises to serve as a forum in which barriers are bridged (or at least, addressed), and human rights are finally discussed with an eye on the Muslim world, in an open and creative manner. The choice to name the journal, Muslim World Journal of Human Rights reflects a desire to examine human rights issues related not only to Islam and Islamic law, but equally those human rights issues found in Muslim societies that stem from various other sources such as socio-economic and political factors, as well the interaction and intersections of the two areas. MWJHR welcomes submissions that apply the traditional human right framework in their analysis as well as those that transcend the boundaries of contemporary scholarship in this regard. Further, the journal also welcomes inter-disciplinary and/or comparative approaches to the study of human rights in the Muslim world in an effort to encourage the emergence of new methodologies in the field. Muslim World Journal of Human Rights recognizes that several highly contested debates in the field of human rights have been reflected in the Muslim world but have frequently taken on their own particular manifestation in accordance with the varying contexts of contemporary Muslim societies.