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Religious Freedom in Theory and Practice

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Abstract

This study uses the Religion and State round 2 (RAS2) dataset to examine the presence of religious freedom in 177 countries. There are many different conceptions of the meaning of religious freedom but they can be divided into two categories, those which focus on the free exercise of religion—that is the right to practice religion and maintain religious institutions—and those which focus on treating all religions equally, also known as the level playing field model. The results show that neither form of religious freedom is common even among democracies and states which have constitutional clauses protecting religious freedom. This finding has serious implications for our understanding of the nature of liberal democracy.

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Notes

  1. For a discussion of social restrictions on religion and democracy see Grim and Finke (2011).

  2. For a copy of this law, see http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/2297.pdf.

  3. For a more detailed listing and discussion of international documents and agreement protecting religious rights, see Witte and Green (2009).

  4. A copy of this document is available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/36/a36r055.htm.

  5. A copy of this document is available at http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx.

  6. In a related study, North and Gwin (2004) similarly extensively analyze religious freedom without ever defining the term.

  7. Other studies which make extensive use of the term “religious freedom” without defining it include Morgenstern (2012); Philpott (2002, 2007); Sarkissian (2010); Spohn (2009) and Witte and Green (2009).

  8. See, for example, Demerath (2001, p. 185–198) and Jelen (2007).

  9. Other definitions which focus on discrimination as the basis of religious freedom similarly also include free exercise. See, for example, Marshall (2009).

  10. Others such as Servin-Gonzalez and Torres-Reyna (1999) and Wilson (2010) extensively discuss religious tolerance without ever defining the term.

  11. This term first appeared in Roger Finke’s work in the context of the supply-side theory of religion which focuses on under what conditions individual religiosity is more common and which religious organizations are more likely to flourish (Stark and Finke 2000, p. 252). It later became central for his conception of religious freedom (Finke 2012; Grim and Finke 2011.)

  12. This observation is based on the religious discrimination and official religion variables discussed below.

  13. For additional versions of this argument, see, among others, Brathwaite and Bramsen (2011, p. 233), Kuru (2009), and Shah (2000).

  14. For a review of the Western intellectual history of the concept of separation of religion and state, see Laycock (1997) and Witte (2006).

  15. For more on the RAS2 dataset see Fox (2011, 2013, 2014) and the RAS webpage at www.religionandstate.org. This includes the data itself, information regarding data collection, data reliability, and variable structure. Distributions for all of the variables are available at http://www.thearda.com/Archive/Files/Codebooks/RAS2012_CB.asp.

  16. These descriptions are from the RAS2 codebook which is available at www.religionandstate.org.

  17. For a listing of these component variables, see the RAS2 codebook which is available at www.religionandstate.org.

  18. These descriptions are from the RAS2 codebook which is available at www.religionandstate.org.

  19. For a listing of these component variables, see the RAS2 codebook which is available at www.religionandstate.org.

  20. While it is possible to analyze each of the individual variables of the RAS dataset in relation to democracy, Fox (2008, 2013, 2014) has already published this type fop analysis.

  21. The variable is cfreetype01x2008. The dataset is available at variable at www.religionandstate.oorg

  22. This is taken from the RAS2 dataset.

  23. For this, I use the version of the Herfindahl Index developed by Barro and McCleary (2005).

  24. Taken from the World Bank.

  25. Taken from the UN Statistical Division at http://www.unstats.org/unsd/default.htm.

  26. For a more detailed discussion of the impact of religious diversity on religious freedom and democracy, see Forblets (2013), Grim and Finke (2011, pp. 3–6), and Kuru (2009, pp. 74–102).

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Fox, J. Religious Freedom in Theory and Practice. Hum Rights Rev 16, 1–22 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-014-0323-5

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