Protecting Religious Freedom

When discussing religion, there is a crucial need to distinguish between religion as a religious instutution, and  religion as the religious beliefs, practices and values of individuals.

Our democratic society should no longer offer privileged status and deferential importance to religious institutions. The simple reason for this proposal is that religious institutions no longer represent the values and views of religious people, including those who may still identify with religious institutions on census forms. This has, and is being illustrated in public debates over SSM and voluntary euthanasia. Consequently, for example, religious organisations should not be given tax breaks simply by virtue of being religious. Instead, like any other institution, religious bodies should be required to establish that their work benefits society at large and consequently is of a charitable nature.

Religious views of individuals deserve the same recognition and protection as conscientiously held views of secular members of our society. However, such a right to practice religious beliefs is not without its limits.

Particularly when discussing religious freedom as a constraint of other rights, we need to recognise that religious freedom is not absolute. Various religious practices and views based on religious belief  have been constrained by law. Thus, despite the concerted opposition of some churches, laws have legalised interracial and same-sex marriage, decriminalised homosexuality, made allowance for irretrievably broken down marriages to be dissolved, recognised women’s right to vote and to equal pay, outlawed discrimination on grounds of race and disability, criminalised polygamous marriage etc. Such reforms, it is important to note, were eventually accepted by religious institutions, at least in their interractions with the broader community.

Religious freedom should not be permitted to mean the imposition of certain religious values on the rest of society. Religious freedom is the freedom to act in accordance with a person’s conscientious values, subject to the relevant constraints of the law. It is not a right to not be confronted by that which is distasteful to religious sensitivities.

Society as a whole decides the extent to which a person or organisation may be exempt from new laws, which are at odds with religious tenets and beliefs. We need to be careful not to confuse religious organisations’ desperate endeavours to hang on to power, influence and privilege, with the rights of individuals to worship and practice their religion.