State Security Regimes and the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief: Changes in Europe Since 2001

The question of to what extent, manifestations of religious beliefs should be permitted in the European public sphere has become a salient and controversial topic in recent years. Despite the increasing interest however, debates have rarely questioned the conventional wisdom that an increase in the range of security measures employed by a government inevitably leads to a decrease in the human rights enjoyed by individuals.

This book analyses the relationship between state security regime changes and the right to religious freedom in the EU. It presents a comparative analysis of the impact these regime changes have had on the politics, policies and protections of religious freedom across the EU member states in the post-2001 environment. The book provides a timely investigation into the role of national legislation, the European Court of Human Rights, and societal trends in the protection of religious freedom, and in so doing demonstrates why the relationship between state security and religious freedom is one of the most socially significant challenges facing policymakers and jurists in Europe at the present time.

1. The issue of religious freedom and state security 2. Protections and critiques of the right to freedom of religion and belief 3. State security regimes and religious freedom in Europe: A multi-state analysis 4. Rethinking the relationship between state security and religious freedom 5. Religious freedom in liberal nationalist states: Denmark and the Netherlands 6. Religious freedom in securitized states: Germany and the United Kingdom 7. Religious freedom and state security in Europe: Findings and recommendations