Right to Freedom of Religion

State Intervention in Muslim Personal Law: A Case of Fundamental Misunderstanding

State Intervention in Muslim Personal Law: A Case of Fundamental Misunderstanding

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board [the Board], has been at the centre of a raging controversy for the past year. This is because of an affidavit filed by...
Trinity Lutheran v. Comer: Does The U.S. Supreme Court Now See Separation of Church and State as a Kind of Religious Discrimination?

Trinity Lutheran v. Comer: Does The U.S. Supreme Court Now See Separation of Church and State as a Kind of Religious Discrimination?

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer seems modest on its facts, but it moves the Court one step closer to a complete reversal of the “separation...
The Devil’s in the Dictum: the Kenyan Court of Appeal Wishes Away the Inviolability of the Right to Hold a Religious Belief

The Devil’s in the Dictum: the Kenyan Court of Appeal Wishes Away the Inviolability of the Right to Hold a Religious Belief

High school students subscribing to the Seventh Day Adventist faith have cause for celebration. In Seventh Day Adventist Church (East Africa) Limited v Minister for Education & 3 others, Kenya’s...
The UK Government’s Promised Review of Counter-Terror Law and Strategy

The UK Government’s Promised Review of Counter-Terror Law and Strategy

In less than three months, the UK has suffered from four major terror attacks. As the UK is recovering after the attacks in London Bridge and Borough Market, and in...
The Travel Ban as Religious Discrimination: Judges’ Engagement of Political Discourse and Recent History

The Travel Ban as Religious Discrimination: Judges’ Engagement of Political Discourse and Recent History

On March 15, 2017, two federal district courts, in Hawaii and Maryland, enjoined the enforcement of President Trump’s second executive order restricting travel from six predominantly Muslim countries. In both...
The Religious Views of Judges and Human Rights Adjudication: A Reply to Bamforth and Barber

The Religious Views of Judges and Human Rights Adjudication: A Reply to Bamforth and Barber

Two blog contributions have recently discussed the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court and what should be made of his conservative and theologically-derived views supported by...
Understanding Direct Discrimination Suffered ‘As a Female Muslim’ in Achbita

Understanding Direct Discrimination Suffered ‘As a Female Muslim’ in Achbita

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its long-awaited decision in Samira Achbita v G4S Secure Solutions NV on 14 March 2017. The referring Court had asked...
Judge Neil Gorsuch: A Reply to Nicholas Bamforth

Judge Neil Gorsuch: A Reply to Nicholas Bamforth

At the start of March, Nick Bamforth wrote a blog post for this site examining Judge Neil Gorsuch’s ‘Academic Pedigree’. With the hearings on Gorsuch underway, I thought it might...
Direct Discrimination and Indirect Discrimination: Headscarves and the CJEU

Direct Discrimination and Indirect Discrimination: Headscarves and the CJEU

The decision of the CJEU in Achbita has been much anticipated as the first full judgment of the Court on discrimination based on religion and belief under Directive 2000/78. Although...
Inequality and Discrimination faced by Religious Minorities in Pakistan

Inequality and Discrimination faced by Religious Minorities in Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the worst countries to live in as a member of a religious minority group, due to the lack of human rights protection accorded to minority communities....
The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland on sexual orientation discrimination – justice served?

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland on sexual orientation discrimination – justice served?

The facts of Ashers have been set out on this Blog previously, so only a brief recap is necessary here. The respondent was a gay man who ordered a cake...
Live Music during Thaipusam Processions in Singapore: Developments in the Law on Freedom of Religion

Live Music during Thaipusam Processions in Singapore: Developments in the Law on Freedom of Religion

In Singapore, due to the 2009 Public Order Act, public processions require an official permit, which may have conditions attached. In Vijaya Kumar s/o Rajendran v Attorney-General (17 September 2015),...

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