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Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear...
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Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear and Insecurity

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 12833

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Francesco Alicino

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Law, University of LUM (Bari), 70010 Casamassima, BA, Italy
Interests: law and religion; religious law; religion-inspired terrorism; comparative constitutional law; constitutional law; comparative human rights; legal theory; European Union Law

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is devoted to an exploration of European states’ laws towards religions. In particular, scholars are invited to analyse and reflect on matters related to religions in Europe in the age of cultural-religious diversity, especially when combined with socio-economic and political crises such as the ones we have been living with for at least twenty years: from the 9/11 attacks (and after that, the religion-inspired terrorism, the financial disaster, the Arab spring, the perennial turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic, the immigration process) to the war on Ukraine which, among other things, have included calls to religious nationalism from all sides involved.

In the face of growing secularism and religious diversity, the existing transnational emergencies exacerbate the dilemma of contemporary constitutional democracies, increasingly caught between the principle of equality and the right to be different. It is true that a reasonable implementation of the principle of equality implies respect for diversities, for there is no equality in treating unequals as equals, and vice versa. However, the groups’ cultural–religious differences cannot overcome the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms that, as such, must be guaranteed to all persons regardless of their religious or non-religious affiliation.

Additionally, this dilemma is even more accentuated when referring to conflicting tendencies that have always characterised the relation between religion and democracy. On the one hand, the connections between religious identity and authoritarian ideas have been so frequently replicated in the history of democracy that the rule of law and the rule of God often appear to be an odd couple of sorts, and opposed in many respects: this is even more evident in conflict contingencies and situations, which may reverberate in an advocacy of religious hatred. On the other hand, religions remain integral parts of democratic landscapes, as they can act as agents of civic mobilisation and networks of peaceable coexistence, thereby nurturing the civic skills required for democracy, such as cooperation, equality, solidarity, accountability, consensus building, and public participation.

This Special Issues focuses on how both endogenous influences (that is, traditional systems of state–church relationship and religious division at the national level) and exogenous influences (that is, the existing economic and political transnational emergencies) impact the constitutional postures of European states towards religion, which imply the rights of all individuals and all religious denominations to be equal and equally free before the law without unreasonable distinctions (that is, without discrimination).

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Francesco Alicino
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

  • law
  • religion
  • Europe
  • relations
  • emergencies
  • freedoms
  • rights
  • equality
  • diversities
  • constitution

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 360 KiB  
Article
Cultural Heritage and Religious Phenomenon between Urbicide and Cancel Culture: The Other Side of the Russian–Ukrainian Conflict
by Federica Botti and Cristina Bianchi
Religions 2023, 14(4), 535; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040535 - 16 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2886
Abstract
The Russian–Ukrainian conflict, in addition to causing an unacceptable loss of human life, is straining the integrity of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, despite the fact that both countries involved are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the [...] Read more.
The Russian–Ukrainian conflict, in addition to causing an unacceptable loss of human life, is straining the integrity of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, despite the fact that both countries involved are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its First Protocol. Churches are one of Ukraine’s most important historical assets, as well as symbolic places of Orthodox religious identity common to both the invaders and the invaded. The destruction of these places and their deliberate damage on the part of both sides appear to be part of a more general conflict concerning internal disagreements between Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy, which, in turn, reflect two different historical views of the Russian–Ukrainian relationship. A brief reconstruction of relations between the Orthodox Churches operating on the territory of Ukraine demonstrates how religious affiliation has affected the conflict, causing it to become decisive and deeply divisive, so much so that the Patriarchate of Moscow has become an active part of the conflict. This circumstance favours the hypothesis that it is precisely the religious cultural heritage that is most at risk of deliberate destruction. The Russians, by destroying the symbolic places of Ukrainian religious identity (urbicide), affirm the spiritual unity of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. For their part, the Ukrainians attempt to erase the Russian presence and the common religious cultural roots by destroying buildings of worship dear to the tradition of the Moscow Patriarchate (cancel culture). They reject the imperial traditions of Russia and, at the same time, claim an independent Church. The question arises as to whether the reconstruction process following the war will take into account the original cultural–religious identities, or whether it will take the opportunity to adopt a new (also) religious identity instead, and whether the old and new instruments offered by law are adequate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear and Insecurity)
12 pages, 263 KiB  
Article
Cyberterrorism and Religious Fundamentalism: New Challenges for Europe in the Age of Universal Internet Access
by Silvia Baldassarre
Religions 2023, 14(4), 458; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040458 - 29 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2345
Abstract
Digital technology is now a fundamental and indispensable component of daily life. While the great opportunities offered by cyberspace are undoubted, the growing security challenges and threats it brings should not be overlooked. Cyberspace, by its nature transnational and elusive regarding forms of [...] Read more.
Digital technology is now a fundamental and indispensable component of daily life. While the great opportunities offered by cyberspace are undoubted, the growing security challenges and threats it brings should not be overlooked. Cyberspace, by its nature transnational and elusive regarding forms of control, is useful to terrorism because it allows not only the propaganda of fundamentalist doctrines but also the creation and manipulation of information; the apology and dissemination of information instrumental to the processes of radicalisation; the use of devices capable of transversally violating the security of technical and virtual infrastructures that are critical to the security of nations; the operational planning of terrorist activities; and the recruitment, financing, and training of recruits. The so-called “new terrorism”, religiously motivated, makes extensive use of the digital tool. After an excursus concerning the use of cyberspace by religious fundamentalist groups and the transformation of religiously motivated terrorism, this paper focuses on the analysis of the European legal response and on the need for global and shared European action. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear and Insecurity)
15 pages, 364 KiB  
Article
ESG Capitalism from a Law and Religion Perspective
by Matteo Corsalini
Religions 2023, 14(3), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030418 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3635
Abstract
In an age of fear, insecurity, and multiple and overlapping crises, the fortunes of ESG—the idea that companies should include environmental, social, and governance standards of good performance—are now steadily growing. This is all the truer in the West, where corporate financial misconduct [...] Read more.
In an age of fear, insecurity, and multiple and overlapping crises, the fortunes of ESG—the idea that companies should include environmental, social, and governance standards of good performance—are now steadily growing. This is all the truer in the West, where corporate financial misconduct and, more worryingly, corporate political activities impacting democratic processes, have become a matter of evident concern. Business scholars and policymakers are, however, still uncertain about which corporate activities merit an ESG label, with pressure groups pushing for their own ESG definitions and standards according to their agendas and beliefs. Against this background, this paper contributes to this Special Issues’ guiding question of how religions can act as agents of civic mobilisation by critically examining their role in addressing sustainability topics due to religious concerns from a legal perspective. This current paper hopes to create a preliminary intellectual bridge between two apparently unrelated fields of research (law and religion; corporate governance) that could help scholars in both areas to develop expertise and sophistication in applying their respective specialities to an otherwise unfamiliar area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear and Insecurity)
14 pages, 291 KiB  
Article
The Concept of De-Radicalization as a Source of Confusion
by Alessandro Negri
Religions 2023, 14(3), 374; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030374 - 13 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1463
Abstract
The theme of the relationship between religious freedom and security has, over the last twenty years, acquired such centrality that hitherto unknown or little-used concepts have entered the public and specialized debates. Prominent among these is regarding the most concrete and important long-term [...] Read more.
The theme of the relationship between religious freedom and security has, over the last twenty years, acquired such centrality that hitherto unknown or little-used concepts have entered the public and specialized debates. Prominent among these is regarding the most concrete and important long-term public intervention in the fight against extremism on a religious matrix, i.e., de-radicalization, often simplistically understood as the opposite, or reverse, of a radicalization process. The activity of de-radicalization, therefore, must first be defined in its theoretical sense to grasp its real meaning and objectives; then, it is necessary to identify its content in practice, trying to understand its founding themes and limits. The risk of such a public intervention is interfering with the deepest sphere of the individual, with his or her religiosity and intentions, overstepping the limits derived from the different types of secularism (as Italian laicità or French laïcité) that characterize the State, requiring it to consider individual conscience as impassable territory. On the other hand, ignoring the intimate dimension of the subject can lead to complete ineffectiveness of a de-radicalization activity, which thus risks being reduced to a mere illustration of content. This contribution, starting from these difficulties, intends to outline, from a juridical perspective and specifically from a law and religion perspective, a hypothesis for a public de-radicalization strategy, capable of achieving concrete results but simultaneously respectful of the constitutional principles in which it is necessarily embedded, focused on the concept of responsibility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Law and Religion in Europe in an Age of Fear and Insecurity)
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