Worldly Perspective: Religion and the Constitution

When compared to other countries, the American Constitution seems to provide very strong protections for the religious beliefs of Americans.

There has been much attention drawn over the past year to the religious freedom bills being presented by legislatures across the states. Some have been passed, some have failed, and some have reached a state’s highest executive officer only to be vetoed. Proponents of these laws argue that they are designed to ensure that the protections of religion in the United States’ Constitution are preserved. Detractors argue that these bills have a much more sinister purpose; namely, to allow individuals to discriminate against the LGBT community in the provision of public services. This fight is long from over and time will tell what the American legal landscape will look like in the next 20 years. It is not difficult to be somewhat myopic when it comes to issues such as this, but sometimes it can help Americans gain perspective to review how the world views religion and governance issues.

Our North American Neighbor

Canada is often portrayed as sitting above, yet being overshadowed by, its neighbor to the south.  Its people however, are as vibrant and unique as any other country and hold similar rights pursuant to their Constitution. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains a provision that outlines each citizen’s fundamental freedoms. Included in these freedoms is the freedom of conscience and religion. Canadian law even takes religious beliefs into account when sentencing a person following a conviction for breaking the law. The law states that a person’s sentence may be increased if it found that the person was “motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on…religion…”  

Our other neighbor, Mexico, also protects religious freedom of its citizens by way of its Constitution. The Mexican Constitution states that “everyone is free to embrace the religion of his choice and to practice all ceremonies, devotions, or observances of his respective faith…provided they do not constitute an offense punishable by law.” The law goes one step further, however, and mandates that these “religious acts” must be done inside places of worship, which “shall at all times be under governmental supervision.” This additional layer of monitoring would likely not pass muster under the American constitutional protections, but Mexico is far from being the only country with regulatory monitoring of its churchgoing population.

Germany’s Constitution

The battle in Germany over religious protections recently made headlines when an ultra-conservative political group made the statement that “Islam is incompatible with the German Constitution.” While this is only the opinion of one outlying political group, the German law with regard to religion is unique when compared to the protections in North American countries. While German law protects religious freedom and prohibits discrimination based on religion, not all religious groups are treated equally. That is because each German state has the ability to provide “public law status” on religious groups, which allows the group greater freedoms over its governance (i.e. chaplains in prisons, hospitals and military institutions and levy tithes on members). While most states in Germany have recognized the religions of the majority (Protestant, Catholic and Jewish communities), and some have recognized minority groups such as Mennonites and Christian Scientists, Islam has yet to be recognized by German states as a PLC  The states in Germany have the ultimate say, despite the federal government promoting the recognition of Islam and its treatment as equal to other religions. The unequal treatment has led to conflicts when Muslim Germans wished to be buried according to traditional Islamic principles.

The Land of the Free

When compared to the treatment of religion across the globe, the American Constitution seems to provide very strong protections for the religious beliefs of Americans. The religious freedom laws that are at issue today could even be seen as unnecessary for their stated purpose, after taking into account the global perspective. The United Life Church Case Law will continue to monitor these laws to ensure that they are in accordance with the religious freedom principles upon which our country was founded.