Religious freedom and education A tale of love and darkness

Abstract

Religious freedom holds a pivotal role in people’s spiritual development and is considered an indispensable part of one’s personality, enshrined in all international human rights documents.638 The normative importance639 of religious freedom has time and again been spoken to by international and regional judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. In this regard, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has time and again pointed in its judgments concerning freedom of religion that it is a foundation of a democratic society, since it is a synonym to pluralism. In particular, the Court acknowledges that “genuine religious pluralism […] is vital for the survival of any democratic society” and as a result “[m]ajor importance should be attach to the necessity of [any] interference”,640 and has manifested that “the pluralism indissociable from a democratic society, which has been dearly won over the centuries, depends on freedom of through, conscience and religion”.641 Following the same course of thinking, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC, or the Committee) in its General Comment 22 regarding Art. 18(2) of the ICCPR mentions that “coercion which would impair the individual’s freedom to have or adopt a religion” is prohibited.