Belgium and the Netherlands legalized voluntary termination of pregnancy a few decades ago under certain conditions. In both legislations the abortion doctor must also investigate whether other possibilities exist to meet the woman’s request for help. In this contribution the author examines to what extent adoption can be a reasonable alternative to an abortion. It appears that adoption is often not considered in the abortion request, with the result that opportunities are lost for the woman, the unborn child and society to avoid a termination of pregnancy after all.

The relative openness of the concept of public order is increasingly instrumentalised in legislation which affects religious minorities. This article argues that a permanent distinction must be made between social norms and public order, and that an appeal to social norms in the context of public order indicates a free, or ‘ad libitum’, use of constitutional law.

In 2020, the Belgian federal Government announced that it will recognize Buddhism as a non-confessional worldview. This recognition will give the Buddhists several privileges: the salaries and pensions of lama’s as well as of Buddhist consultants in prisons, hospitals and the army will be paid for by the state. In addition, state schools will be required to organize Buddhist education at parental request. From the perspective of equal treatment and within the current constitutional framework, the recognition of Buddhism can only be welcomed. But is this constitutional framework, which is amongst others indebted to the concordat between Napoleon and the Holy See (1801), still up to date? In 1983, the Dutch Government abolished this Napoleonic model of state financing and opted for a profound reform of the system. In this article, I will show why such a reform could also be useful and inspiring in the Belgian context.

What is a good governance approach to uncertainty or reflexivity? Reducing uncertainty is an important task of policy and governance, but it can also derail. That is why good governance includes holding space for uncertainty. A Christian worldview provides insights for a more relaxed handling of uncertainty. The notions of certitudo, improvisation and humility are then central. Together, they form building blocks for a post-secular perspective on governance in times of crisis.

Spiritual caregivers in the Netherlands are available in the military and in penitentiary institutions, in health care institutions and, recently, in the police. Within the military and the justice system, the spiritual care is traditionally characterised by a clear division of responsibilities between church and state. Due to domain specific developments in health care institutions and within the police, positions and responsibilities are less clear-cut. Developments such as the increased number of denominations that provide spiritual care tends to regard spiritual caregivers as ‘ordinary employees’. This article analyses the position of spiritual caregivers in the various domains and discusses current developments. It asserts that the church-state arrangement in the classic spiritual care areas requires respect and that the gist thereof should be taken into account in legal arrangements in the other domains.

The worldwide ‘lockdown’ due to Covid-19 has had an accelerating effect on the ongoing discussion of Islamic burial in the Netherlands. Because of the closure of airspace Moroccan and Turkish-Dutch deceased could no longer be repatriated to be buried in their country of origin. This increased the pressure on cemeteries in the Netherlands to provide for the requirements and rituals of an Islamic burial. And this in turn showed the importance of the discussion that is already taking place in the House of Representatives about changes to the laws and regulations concerning burials. These three dimensions of Islamic burial in the Netherlands – personal, practical and legal – are discussed in this article.

Buddhism has very specific ideas about an idealized form of government in Asia. These ideas may be ancient but they very often play a part in the background of politics up to modernity. Even within republics where religious monarchy has long since disappeared, a certain supernatural foundation on the basis of which a government functions may still be present. Opposition to a government can often imply resistance to a world order that is actually of supranatural origin. This article focuses on historical dimensions of this phenomenon (the position of the Buddha, the origin of the monarchy and Emperor Ashoka), but also on modern forms (Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar). Concerning Myanmar, the recent developments around the Rohingyas are placed in a cultural perspective.

The question central to this article is whether ‘Islam’ and human rights are compatible and, if not, whether there might be room to come to a minimum standard of human rights that can be shared globally. This article will demonstrate that, from the perspective of Islamic orthodoxy, principles that are fundamental to human rights, like equality and freedom of religion, pose unsurmountable problems, and the adjustment of these principles is theologically nearly impossible. However, a growing number of Muslim intellectuals holds the opposite view, using new theological methods to argue that these Islamic principles and human rights are compatible. Although they are warmly welcomed by human rights lawyers and activists, their methods are not uncontroversial, and they are still very small in number.

This article analyses the relation between Islam, politics and citizenship. It analyses three currents within Islam: Salafism, Islamism, and modernism. The central argument is that most modern Islamic currents do not have a concept of politics as an independent ‘field’ where compromises can be made concerning societal problems. The only current that provide the space for a pluriform, open political debate is Islamic modernism. Through its humanism and the centrality of the common good and not the text, modernism embraces not only the concept of politics as free space but also the concept of active citizenship.

Some religious persons refuse to undergo certain medical treatments such as vaccinations or blood transfusions. They refuse treatment not only for themselves but for their children as well. Many fundamental rights may be at stake here: freedom of religion, the right to physical integrity and respect for family life on the one hand, and the duty of public authorities to provide for health care and defend children’s rights on the other. The main topic of this contribution is the extent to which the government is allowed to make certain treatments compulsory.

The Netherlands changed from a culturally homogenous society into a religiously plural society. This had an impact across public and denominational schools. The pluralisation of the pupil population raised the issue of the so-called pillarized educational system. In this contribution I explore this theme in the context of the freedom of education laid down in article 23 of the Dutch Constitution, and the right of every child to get acquainted with the diversity of its society’s traditions, and to position itself in the plural Dutch society. Moving beyond the pillarized system, all education can then become truly special, preparing children for normative citizenship.

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.

The Dutch policy of the ‘Participation Society’ intends to return many societal responsibilities to civil society. As religious organizations traditionally had undertaken that task, an increase in their participation is expected. However, the separation of state and religion often proves an obstacle. Also, there is quite some scepticism among religious organization regarding the role that a state should have in its caring duties. This contribution contains several insightful and critical articles on this subject: the introduction is by Gert-Jan Buitendijk, director-general with the Ministry of Interior, who is involved in the policy-making process of the Participation Society policy, followed by brief reflections by two scholars of religion and theology, and two representatives of the Islamic and Catholic communities. These contributions were the outcome of a lustrum symposium organized by the Journal for Religion, Law and Policy in november 2015, where academics, policy makers and representatives of religious organizations discussed the effects of the ‘Participation Society’ policies and laws in the Netherlands.

This article presents a summary of a report of the (mainline) Protestant Church in the Netherlands on democracy and the rule of law (see: www.protestantsekerk.nl/Lists/PKN-Bibliotheek/The-church-and-the-democratic-constitutional-state.pdf), including an evaluation. It starts from the presumption that modern plural society rightly expects religious communities to present their views in this regard explicitly and clearly. The report presents an interpretation of what ‘the separation of church and state’ entails, as well as an analysis of recent developments in the public domain. The church expresses its critical solidarity with the modern state. It points to the risk of democracy turning into a market rather than a forum.

Current developments and recent research findings reveal that the Netherlands have to cope with the existence of child marriages. In this article it will be examined whether the modifications that were introduced by the Dutch marriage law that entered into force at the end of 2015, can be expected to contribute to the improvement of issues on child marriages.

Some months after the German occupation of the Netherlands, the Reichskommissar inroduced a Germanlike system of collecting finances for the poor people, soon followd by an equal system of social work. These initiatives at the same time aimed at urge the national-socialistic ideology, as such dismissed by the society and the churches. The occupying authorities avoided a clash with the churches.

This contribution discusses two forms in which spiritual care in the Netherlands can be organized: in terms of a (church) office which reflects the current form, or as liberal profession which is a form to be conceivably pursued as an alternative proper to the sociocultural and institutional developments that this text indicates. The historical Dutch context of pillarization is tributary to a form of spiritual care that seems less apt to deal with the challenges ahead. The conditions and requirements of a liberal model are presented, but also put into perspective of the limited opportunities of the professional association of spiritual care to manoeuvre in politics and policies.

Ryan van Eijk reacts on a previously in this periodical published article on prison chaplaincy in the Netherlands. This article argued that the growing religious individualisation as well as a political rethinking of the role of religions institutions ask for system adaptations and that the denominational approach is subject to discussion. Van Eijk criticizes this thesis and presents arguments and reasons why the current model is a good one. According to Van Eijk prison chaplaincy cannot and should not be organized only from the right of the detainee, for also aspects like the task of the government and denominational organizations and the detention context have to be considered.

Recently there’s a lot of debate within the Netherlands about the criminality of assistance by someone who’s not a doctor towards the death of a loved one. In the Heringa lawsuit a son has helped his (step)mother who wished to no longer live (considered her life to be ‘completed’) to die at an age of 99. The helper non-doctor risks criminal pursuit and punishment. The central argument of the lobby to establish a more humane approach towards the persevered need is personal autonomy. This article aims to clarify the debate and to stimulate another way of thinking towards the situation of, mostly, elderly who want to decide and act independently regarding their death.