In the 19th century in many Western states, the close relationship between Church and State came to an end and the Roman Catholic Church developed into a major and active player on social and educational level in society separate from the State.
This was due, on the one hand, to the constitutional changes in the Western states from the end of the 18th century, which led to the gradual introduction of the formal principle of separation of Church and State. On the other hand, it was a result of the search for a new position of the Roman Catholic Church in society that also influenced the theological reflection of the Church on society.
The ecclesiastical reflection on the ideal relationship between Church and State took shape in the course of this process in the Ius Publicum Ecclesiasticum. The ecclesiastical view on the relationship between believers/citizens, society and State simultaneously took shape in Catholic social doctrine, which today still offers a model for modern society. In Catholic social doctrine, the believer/citizen is the connecting element between Church and State in a secular society. The ‘state doctrine’ of the Catholic Church is presented in Catholic social doctrine as an ideal image of the democratic constitutional state in which man is central and forms the central link between Church, society and secular State.

According to the Coalition Agreement 2017-2021, the Dutch government intends to develop policy to prevent religious communities from receiving support from abroad if this support comes from so-called ‘unfree countries’. In the article, the author argues that restrictive measures in this area touch upon the collective freedom of religion, which is protected by the ECHR, measures that can only be justified under strict conditions in the light of religious freedom as guaranteed in article 9 ECHR.

In het arrest Liga van Moskeeën buigt het Hof van Justitie zich voor het eerst over de Unierechtelijke eisen aan de (onverdoofde) rituele slacht van dieren. Een Belgische rechter had een prejudiciële vraag gesteld over de geldigheid van deze eisen gelet op de bescherming van de godsdienstvrijheid. Het Hof van Justitie concludeert in het arrest dat de godsdienstvrijheid niet wordt beperkt, en laat veel aandacht uitgaan naar de legitieme doelen die door de Unierechtelijke eisen worden nagestreefd, waaronder de bescherming van het dierenwelzijn en de volksgezondheid. Dit artikel bespreekt de bijzonderheden aan deze grondrechtelijke toetsing van het Hof van Justitie.
HvJ 29 mei 2018, zaak C-426/16, Liga van Moskeeën en Islamitische Organisaties Provincie Antwerpen VZW e.a./Vlaamse Gewest, ECLI:EU:C:2018:335

In mid-August 2017, the Minister of Justice and Security prohibited the controversial preacher Jneid from exhibiting in the vicinity of ‘his’ bookshop, annex mosque in the Schilderswijk in The Hague. By means of this ban, the minister wanted to prevent Jneid from carrying out his ‘intolerant’ message any longer in an environment where many young people are susceptible to radicalization. The Temporary Act on Counterterrorism was supposed to provide an adequate basis for such a ban. This article argues that a measure restricting the freedom of movement with the aim of preventing someone from conveying his message is against the constitutional prohibition of censorship and may therefore not be imposed.

This article maps the current Dutch practice on statelessness, and tries to expose the current issues in particular. The published legislative proposal for a statelessness determination procedure in September 2016 is an attempt by the Dutch government to solve part of these problems after wide criticism from, among others, the Advisory Committee on Migration Affairs (ACVZ) in 2013. The introduction of a statelessness determination procedure is a long awaited development and a step in the right direction with a view of improving current practice and law for stateless persons residing in the Netherlands. However, significant deficiencies in the legislative proposal risk to greatly undermine the operation and value of the new procedure, especially for those currently left in limbo and excluded from society. This article focuses on the shortcomings in the procedure and provides recommendations how to revise these to ensure that stateless persons are enabled to demonstrate their statelessness adequately and obtain the rights associated with it as intended in the Statelessness Conventions signed by the Netherlands.

The liberal stance regarding religious freedom starts from a particular anthropology, which holds that in order to become fully human citizens must be able to build their lives on the foundations of their religious convictions. This starting point leads to distinctive conceptions of constitutionalism and democracy that make it possible for citizens to keep faith in liberal democracy. The so-called new critics of religious freedom, to the contrary, run the risk of eventually eroding trust in government by putting their substantial ideas of liberal democracy first and demanding of citizens and their organizations to act in conformity with these ideas.

Het Hof van Justitie heeft zich op 14 maart 2017 in twee verschillende zaken uitgesproken over het ontslag van een vrouwelijke werknemer vanwege het dragen van een islamitische hoofddoek. Naar beide arresten werd al enige tijd met spanning uitgekeken, onder meer vanwege de eerder gepubliceerde volkomen uiteenlopende conclusies van advocaten-generaal Kokott en Sharpston. Het Hof van Justitie lijkt veel ruimte te laten aan werkgevers om het dragen van religieuze symbolen op de werkplek te verbieden, mits zo’n verbod op een algemene en neutrale manier geformuleerd wordt. Er blijven echter veel vragen onbeantwoord en daardoor is onduidelijk hoe richtinggevend de arresten nu precies zijn.
HvJ 14 maart 2017, zaak C-157/15, Samira Achbita/G4S Secure Solutions NV, ECLI:EU:C:2017:203 en zaak C-188/15, Asma Bougnaoui/Micropole SA, ECLI:EU:C:2017:204

This article explores three perspectives of tradition and their consequences for the relationship between law and religion. A religious tradition can be seen either as a remnant of the past, separate from modern law, or as an authoritative source of moral prescriptions. The analysis of a literary tradition demonstrates that traditions influence each other and develop in a cyclical way. Tradition comes about as a construction by the present of the past. This third perspective shows the importance of the acknowledgment of law as an open platform for deliberation and recognition of religious values.

This article is about the legal position (labor law) of employees in Dutch schools on a religious basis. Although the normal labor law is applicable in this situation, there are also some divergent regulations. Besides some history and background information, this article discusses some important recent developments in the involved commissions and the topics they can decide about. At last this article is about the legal status of the decisions of the commissions. Are they binding or not?

IS propaganda is assumed to contribute to radicalization of Western Muslims. How IS propaganda reaches the hearts and minds of Western Muslims and consequently fuels radicalization is nonetheless an understudied topic. Through content analysis of all fifteen issues of IS-glossy Dabiq this article demonstrates how IS propaganda works in Dabiq. First, IS attunes in Dabiq to factors that foster radicalization according to the literature. IS does so by its discussion in Dabiq of injustice done to Muslims worldwide, the image of the Western enemy, and its positive presentation of the individual and group identity of IS fighters. Second, in Dabiq IS paves the way for embracing violent means, such as terrorist attacks on Western civilians through a discourse of ‘denial’.

John Calvin had the view that church and state formed a spiritual unity. His followers accepted step by step the equal right for protestants and catholic in public society. Their arguments for this were mainly practical. Biblical arguments, as the parable of the tare in the field, played a minor role. Not earlier than in the 19th century public tolerance was a fundamental choice for neo-calvinists.

In a unanimous decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has accepted the refusal of an exemption of compulsory mixed swimming lessons for elementary school girls in Switzerland. The exemption was requested by the parents of the two girls as the requirement to let their daughters participate in those lessons was contrary to their religious conviction. The author discusses the decision in the light of national debates on integration and subscribes its outcome. Specific attention is paid to the ECtHR’s interpretation of the legitimacy of the aim of the Swiss authorities and the role of the numerical presence of Islam in the underlying Swiss court’s ruling which is upheld by ECtHR.

Deze kroniek bevat een selectie van rechtspraak die is gewezen in de periode van 1 februari 2015 tot 1 september 2016. Er is aandacht voor uitspraken met betrekking tot de inhoudelijke vereisten voor gedwongen opneming, de procedurele vereisten, vereisten rondom bijzondere machtigingen en vereisten rondom gedwongen verblijf. Daarbij wordt eveneens verwezen naar relevante tuchtrechtelijke uitspraken. Speciale aandacht is er voor samenloop met het strafrecht.

The French state council ruled that the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet did not have the right to ban burkinis. The court found that the anti-burkini decrees were “a serious and manifestly illegal attack on fundamental freedoms”, including the right to move around in public and the freedom of conscience. The judges stated that local authorities could only restrict individual liberties if there was a “proven risk” to public order. It ruled that a proven public order risk had not been demonstrated.

In Europe, female circumcision has been considered a grave violation of human rights. However, many European countries fail to combat this illegal practice. This article answers the question why criminal law enforcement with regard to female circumcision seems to fail in various European states, with the exception of France. To answer this question, this article analyses various models of citizenship.

Ideas about the purport and value of religious liberty differ from place to place and can change over time. Over the past fifty years, the trend of secularization has laid the social foundations for a reassessment of religious liberty in the Netherlands. Prompted by the confrontation with Islam, the process of reassessment has gained urgency from, but is also hampered by, terrorist attacks and the migration crisis. However that may be, the result is a prioritization of individual autonomy above freedom of conscience in religious matters. This is borne out by an analysis of parliamentary debates in the Netherlands since 2000 and is explained as part of a broader shift from conscience-based to autonomy-based interpretations of liberalism in Dutch society.