Book Title: Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law: The Status of Jewish and Muslim Minorities in Europe and Beyond
Editors: Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Aviad Hacohen
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Year: 2025
Freedom of religion and the protection of the rights of religious minorities constitute one of the most fundamental fields of contemporary human rights. This is an area in which the relationship between human dignity, collective identity, state neutrality, public order, and legal equality becomes visible in a concrete and often contested manner. In today’s pluralistic societies, freedom of religion no longer refers merely to an individual’s right to hold or not to hold a religious belief. Rather, it encompasses a complex set of rights, claims, and practical challenges, ranging from the ability to perform religious rituals and observe religious dress to access to religious education, equal participation in the workplace, legal protection, and the restrictions that are sometimes imposed in the name of secularism, public security, animal welfare, children’s rights, or state neutrality.
Against this background, Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law: The Status of Jewish and Muslim Minorities in Europe and Beyond, edited by Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Aviad Hacohen, is a new and specialized contribution to the fields of law and religion, minority rights, international human rights law, and comparative law. Rather than offering a purely theoretical account, the volume seeks to examine the gap between the principles formally proclaimed in democratic legal systems and the lived realities of religious minorities in law, judicial practice, and social life. Its central focus is on Jewish and Muslim minorities in Europe, as well as in certain contexts beyond Europe, particularly the Israeli legal environment. Although these two groups have distinct historical, social, and political experiences, they are often confronted with common legal questions concerning the boundaries of religious freedom, religious accommodation, and the effective protection of minority rights.
The significance of this volume lies in its treatment of freedom of religion not as an abstract concept, but as a right situated within real cases, policies, and legal controversies. Through comparative law, international human rights law, constitutional law, and the analysis of case law from institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, the book demonstrates how the protection of religious minorities can become entangled with states’ human rights obligations, the cultural sensitivities of majority societies, and the requirements of public order. For this reason, the volume is of considerable value not only to scholars of human rights, law and religion, and minority studies, but also to policymakers, civil society actors, and institutions concerned with religious diversity, discrimination, migration, social coexistence, and the regulation of relations between religion and the state.
Structure and Chapters Content
- Part One: Jewish and Muslim Minorities as Vulnerable Groups under International Human Rights Law
The first part of the book establishes the theoretical and legal framework of the discussion. It consists of three chapters. Chapter One, “The ECtHR, the CJEU, and the Protection of Religious Minorities: A Mixed Scorecard,” examines the role of two major European judicial institutions in protecting freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities. The chapter shows that European case law in this field has produced both important protective possibilities and significant limitations and ambiguities.
Chapter Two, “Strengthening the Protection of Religious Minorities by Establishing a New Universal Human Rights Treaty: A Necessary or Redundant Effort?”, raises the question of whether the existing international human rights system is sufficient to protect religious minorities or whether there is a need for a new universal treaty specifically dedicated to this area. Chapter Three, “The Concept of Vulnerability in the Context of Religious Minorities,” examines vulnerability as an analytical concept for understanding the position of religious minorities.
The importance of this part lies in the fact that it does not analyze freedom of religion merely as an individual right. Instead, it places religious freedom in connection with the status of minority groups, discrimination, institutional protection, and the shortcomings of existing legal systems. In this sense, the first part provides the theoretical and legal foundation necessary for understanding the chapters that follow. It shows that Jewish and Muslim minorities, due to their specific historical, social, and legal experiences, continue to face various forms of vulnerability and restriction in many democratic systems.
- Part Two: Duty of Religious Neutrality and Impartiality
The second part of the book addresses one of the most difficult questions in contemporary law and religion: the extent to which the state, public institutions, and even certain private actors must remain neutral toward religion, and how such neutrality is interpreted and implemented in practice. This part consists of two chapters. Chapter Four, “Free Speech and Religious Sensitivity: Between Today’s State-Sponsored SLAPPing and Careful Balancing of Competing Interests,” examines the relationship between freedom of expression, respect for religious sensitivities, and the risk of state misuse of legal tools to restrict dialogue or criticism. Chapter Five, “Employers’ Duties to Respect the Religious Freedom of Employees at the Workplace – Recent Developments,” moves the issue of religious freedom beyond the relationship between the individual and the state, focusing instead on the workplace, employment relations, and the responsibilities of employers to accommodate organizational rules to the beliefs and religious practices of employees.
This part demonstrates that freedom of religion is not confined to the mosque, synagogue, place of worship, or private sphere. Rather, it is also present in the public arena, the media, the workplace, administrative systems, and everyday social relations. By focusing on neutrality, non-discrimination, and the balancing of competing rights, the contributors show how states and institutions may seek to reconcile freedom of expression, public order, religious sensitivities, and the right of individuals to live in accordance with their religion. At the same time, they also show how a rigid interpretation of neutrality can, in practice, create conditions for the restriction of religious minorities.
- Part Three: Shechita and Traditional Circumcision Bans
The third part of the book examines two highly important and controversial examples of the collision between freedom of religion and other values or public interests. It consists of three chapters. Chapter Six, “Shechita Legal Bans in the Comparative Perspective (Historically and Today),” examines legal restrictions on Jewish ritual slaughter from a historical and comparative perspective. Chapter Seven, “Animal Welfare and the Right to Freedom of Religion before the CJEU: The Case of Stunning and Ritual Slaughter,” addresses the tension between the protection of animal welfare and the right of religious minorities to perform ritual slaughter. Chapter Eight, “Ritual Male Circumcision and Children’s Rights,” analyzes traditional circumcision in relation to children’s rights, parental rights, freedom of religion, and state intervention.
The significance of this part lies in its demonstration that the challenges of religious freedom do not always emerge in broad or abstract debates. They often appear in very specific and concrete matters, such as ritual slaughter or traditional circumcision. For Jewish and Muslim communities, these practices are not merely marginal rituals; they form part of religious identity, the continuity of tradition, and collective religious life. At the same time, states and courts assess these practices in light of values such as animal welfare, public health, children’s rights, and the general legal order. This part therefore constitutes one of the central points of the volume’s analysis of the conflict between freedom of religion and other legal and ethical considerations.
- Part Four: The Constitutional Boundaries of Religious Accommodation of Jewish and Muslim Minorities: National Perspectives
The fourth part of the book moves beyond general and thematic discussions and turns to national experiences. It consists of five chapters. Chapter Nine, “The Constitutional Boundaries of Religious Accommodation: The Israeli Perspective,” is devoted to the status of religious freedom and religious accommodation in the Israeli legal system. Chapter Ten, “Jewish and Muslim Claims to Religious Freedom, Participation, and Benefits Under Article 4(1) and (2) of the German Basic Law – and Their Constitutional Limits,” analyzes the German experience in addressing the religious claims of minorities. Chapter Eleven, “Recent Developments in Belgian Case Law on the Regulation of Relations between the State and Religions,” examines recent judicial developments in Belgium concerning the regulation of relations between the state and religions. Chapter Twelve, “Lethargy in the UK: How Not to Accommodate Religion or Belief,” offers a critical view of the state of religious or belief accommodation in the United Kingdom. Chapter Thirteen, “Laïcité, the Legal Framework for the Exercise of Minority Religions in France,” examines the French model of laïcité and its implications for freedom of religion and religious minorities.
This part is important because it shows that freedom of religion and minority rights are not framed in the same way in every country. Each legal system, depending on its political history, constitutional tradition, relationship between religion and the state, experience of migration, demographic composition, and social sensitivities, provides a different response to the claims of religious minorities. The comparison of Israel, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France demonstrates that religious accommodation is not a single legal solution, but rather a set of legal and political choices that may either support minorities effectively or contribute to the practical restriction of their religious freedom.
Conclusion
Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law: The Status of Jewish and Muslim Minorities in Europe and Beyond may be regarded as an important contribution to understanding one of the most complex human rights issues of the contemporary era: the distance between the formal recognition of freedom of religion in democratic legal systems and the actual experience of religious minorities in social life, judicial practice, and public policymaking. The importance of this book lies in its examination of freedom of religion not as an abstract and merely declaratory principle, but as a right situated within real conflicts and legal decisions, where religious practices, minority identity, state neutrality, public security, animal welfare, children’s rights, freedom of expression, and the requirements of the legal order intersect.
The volume shows that the protection of religious minorities is not achieved simply through the recognition of freedom of religion in constitutions or international instruments. The central issue is how these principles are interpreted by courts, implemented in public policy, and applied in relation to real communities, particularly Jewish and Muslim minorities. From this perspective, the book brings together international human rights law, comparative law, constitutional law, and national case studies to provide a multilayered account of the capacities and shortcomings of contemporary legal systems in protecting religious diversity.
The added value of the book lies in its comparative and problem-oriented approach. Rather than discussing freedom of religion solely at the theoretical level, the contributors examine it through specific cases and controversies, including restrictions on ritual slaughter, traditional circumcision, religious freedom in the workplace, religious sensitivities in relation to freedom of expression, and different models of the relationship between religion and the state in contexts such as Israel, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France. This feature makes the volume useful not only for specialists in law and religion and human rights law, but also for researchers in minority studies, policymakers, civil society actors, and institutions dealing with migration, religious coexistence, and the struggle against discrimination.
Overall, the book reminds us that freedom of religion acquires real meaning and effect only when it is as accessible, enforceable, and protected for minorities as it is for majorities. A society in which only the religion of the majority can be lived without cost or obstacle has not yet fully realized freedom of religion. For this reason, the volume may be read as a serious invitation to rethink the boundaries of religious neutrality, legal accommodation, the protection of vulnerable groups, and the role of courts in ensuring religious equality. Ultimately, Freedom of Religion, Minority Rights and the Law demonstrates that the rights of religious minorities are not a marginal or merely identity-based concern, but a fundamental test of the quality of democracy, the rule of law, and states’ genuine commitment to human rights.
