Fundamental Rights, Religion and Human Dignity: A Constitutional Journey

This collection examines theoretical and practical issues concerning the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and other fundamental rights, in the context of secular States, from the perspective of human dignity.

As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made clear, human dignity constitutes the foundation of human rights, among which freedom of thought, conscience, and religion occupies a prominent place. As a consequence of the inter-cultural debate that is ongoing in contemporary Western societies, which are increasingly pluralistic, the concept of human dignity faces important challenges in terms of what it requires. The five chapters included in the first part of this book discuss some of these conceptual challenges, such as the implications of common good constitutionalism for the understanding of human dignity and the role of religious freedom from the perspective of Western experiences and legal thinkers. The chapters in Part II explore particular questions involving human dignity and the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and other human rights, for example, how to build bridges between religious freedom and other fundamental freedoms when people make conflicting legitimate choices. Taken together, the book offers an insightful range of perspectives on some contemporary challenges raised by the exercise of religious freedom in societies that claim to be based on respect for human dignity and human rights.

The volume will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Law and Religion, Human Rights Law, Constitutional Law, and International Relations.

Javier Martínez-Torrón is Professor of Law at Complutense University (Madrid), Vice-President of the Section of Canon Law and Church-State Relations of the Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, Titular Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, and Honorary Foreign Member of the National Academy of Law and Social Sciences of Cordoba, Argentina. He is also President of the International Consortium on Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS).

Li-ann Thio is Provost Chair Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore. She was a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament (2007-2009), and a member of the ICLARS Steering Committee from 2022. She teaches and has published widely in the fields of constitutional and administrative law, law and religion, human rights in Asia and public international law. She was formerly Chief Editor, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, General Editor, Asian Yearbook of International Law and is currently Co-Series Editor of the Hart Constitutionalism in Asia series.