“Freedom of Conscience in European Liberal Democracies and Muslim Law Tradition: Contemporary Legal Perspective”, Nr.S-PD-22-61
Project No. -PD-22-61
Project title: „Freedom of Conscience in European Liberal Democracies and Muslim Law Tradition: Contemporary Legal Perspective”
Project duration: from 2022-11-03 to 2024-10-31
Postdoctoral supervisor: Prof. dr. Andrius Bielskis
Postdoctoral trainee: Juozas Valčiukas
Summary: Beliefs of a religious or secular nature are a matter of conscience and freedom of conscience is one of the foundations of a contemporary society. However, we have recently seen an increase in the erosion of the freedom of conscience through surveillance technology, religious discrimination, re-education camps and other constraints that inhibit religious and other freedoms. This has weakened the freedom of conscience across the globe.
Although law in European liberal democracies guarantees freedom of conscience, conscience conflicts are on the rise in Europe. Secular law only deepens, rather than addresses the problem. Law based on the authority of religion in some countries limits the freedom of conscience and some states are also attempting to turn religious law into the main source of state law. For instance, by turning Republican, Muslim or Christi an beliefs into the state law, fundamental human principles of living in the society are denied. As a result, the conflicts of conscience among people can lead into disagreements between communities, states or civilizations.
This postdoctoral project aims to revisit the contemporary concept of freedom of conscience, especially in the law of European liberal democracies and Muslim majority states. It will compare case-studies from France, Poland, Turkey, and Indonesia in looking at how the freedom of conscience is changing. It will consider values. For instance, the Muslim minority position in the West and the tension between post-Christi an European and Muslim legal traditions regarding the concept of freedom of conscience will be looked at.