Religions and legal boundaries of democracy in Europe: European commitment to democratic principles University of Helsinki, 2009 Religions and legal boundaries of democracy in Europe: European commitment to democratic principles Dorota A. Gozdecka Academic Dissertation To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki for public examination in the Auditorium of the Helsinki University Museum Arppeanum (Snellmaninkatu 3, Helsinki) on 7 November 2009 at 10 a.m. supervisor: Adjunct Professor Ari Hirvonen, University of Helsinki preliminary examiners: Professor Kimmo Nuotio, University of Helsinki Associate Professor Lisbet Christoffersen, University of Roskilde opponent: Professor Zenon Bankowski, University of Edinburgh Language edition: Doctor Joan Löfgren, University of Tampere Graphic design: Ville Sutinen Cover painting: Anna Kozar-Poikonen Copyright © 2009 Dorota A. Gozdecka ISBN 978-952-92-6256-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-5803-5 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi University of Helsinki 2009 I dedicate this book to my parents as an expression of appreciation for their constant support of my scientific endeavours. Pracę tę dedykuję moim rodzicom, z podziękowaniami za wkład, jaki włożyli w proces mojej edukacji i wsparcie dla moich naukowych wysiłków. Abstract This dissertation’s main research questions concern common European principles of democracy in regard to religious freedom. It deals with the modern understanding of European democracy and is a combination of interdisciplinary research on law, culture, politics and philosophy. The main objective of this research is to identify common European legal principles and standards applying to religious freedom and compare them with standards and approaches in particular states. The bases for the analysis are the principles of equality and achievement of religious pluralism. It approaches issues such as the problems of defining religion and the pursuit of religious equality vis-à-vis principles of establishment or quasi-establishment of traditional European religions. In analytical part it critically approaches the commitment of European countries to principles of equality and religious pluralism on examples of selected problematic areas. These areas include women’s reproductive rights, problems of blasphemy and hate speech and relationships between religion and education. It evaluates the impact of various legal regulations in Europe and their influence on religious or non-religious adherents. Finally, in the theoretical part the research deals with the sustainable model of democracy in the multicultural era. It evaluates the possibilities for extending the legal system’s flexibility towards other legal systems, such as Sharia law. Finally, it joins more general discussion on European values, commitment of European states to these values and further perspectives for European integration on axiological level. The analysis shows that currently European consensus and commitment to values of equality and religious pluralism lacks consistency. Even “religion” itself is not uniformly understood. The question whether the state should remain neutral towards doctrines and to what degree has neither been approached with sufficient coherence. While traditional Christian religions still enjoy a wide margin of religious freedom, even in public sphere, new religious movements or culturally new religions are often restrained. Without common commitment to European values, the principle of pluralism and equality is bound to be applied selectively. It is important that the model of European democracy adjusts to the conditions of religious pluralism. Without coherence in application of democratic principles and rights, Europe is bound to be plagued by guilty conscience of double standardisation and emptiness of the European “soul”. Acknowledgements “No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” – Alfred North Whitehead Nothing exists in a vacuum and all our achievements are a sum of our efforts and help provided by those around us. This book is no exception to this rule and finishing it would not have been possible without invaluable help of people who were in various ways involved in the process of its creation. I would like to thank everyone who in any way contributed to this research. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Ari Hirvonen for accepting the task of research supervision. He supported me both with valuable comments on the subsequent drafts of the book and assistance in the difficult process of applying for research financing. Furthermore, I would like to thank my reviewers; Professor Lisbet Christoffersen from the University of Roskilde and the University of Copenhagen and Professor Kimmo Nuotio from the University of Helsinki. Professor Christoffersen with her expert knowledge on the topic of law and religion provided me with her inestimably important comments. Professor Kimmo Nuotio with his crucial and meaningful remarks helped me improve the research style and lacks in the first draft of this dissertation. Moreover, throughout my doctoral studies he was always a strong and indispensible supporter of my research interests and helped me sustain faith in the future of this project. I would also like to thank my opponent, Professor Zenon Bakowski from the University of Edinburgh for taking the duty of examining the dissertation during the public defence. I express my gratitude to the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki, Professor Jukka Kekkonen, who agreed to be the custos at the defence examination. I also appreciate his support for my research activities during my doctoral studies. I would like to dedicate my special thanks to Doctor Pamela Slotte, who in addition to being a wonderful and supportive colleague and friend, provided her voluntary help and expertise on the topics of law and religion. Her careful reading of the first drafts helped me improve and rethink the final shape of this book. I would also like to express my special gratitude to Doctor Joan Löfgren, who undertook the task of language edition. Her careful and critical comments helped me express my thoughts in a smoother and clearer way. Furthermore, this research would not have been possible without important input of translators. I want to thank my friend and German language translator, Claudia Rehwagen. Her translation of legal documents and cases from German was equally important for this research as her unconditional friendship and encouragement. I am also most grateful for translation from Norwegian offered by Svanhil Aldal and analysis of Spanish law provided by my colleague Manuel Jimenez Fonesca. My colleague Jukka Siro with his cheerful and supportive company helped me keep my spirits high on those long working days spent in our shared study room at the University. I am also grateful for his patient help with drafting various documents in Finnish, which I needed to provide during the process of writing this book. I also want to thank Samuli Hurri for his literature suggestions and interest in my research and Jutta Kajander for her assistance with administrative matters. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge efforts of Professor Heikki Pihlajamäki who supported my search for funding at the last stages of writing this dissertation. And although my parents, Wanda and Bogdan, come only here in the list of the acknowledgements, I would foremost like to thank them for the effort they put into my educational process and for having always 10 been there for me, whenever life situations disrupted my research process. Dedicating a book and a few sentences to you is not enough to thank you for all your care, support and simply being the best parents one could imagine to have! I would also like to thank my dear friends for their moral and other support at various stages of this research. Ville Sutinen, in addition to his professional graphic layout assistance, helped me on numerous other occasions with his supportive and constructive attitude. I want to thank you for your long lasting friendship, which was an undeniable support during various difficult points that I had to face during conducting this study. Few people have the privilege of having friends like you. Anna Kozar-Poikonen, with her artistic skills, illuminated this book by designing this beautiful cover graphic. She has also on numerous occasions illuminated dark points in my life with her creativity and encouragement. Special thanks go to my friends Hanna Lyytikäinen, Magdalena Jasinska-Nurmela and Sari Vehmaskangas for all those times, when I would have given up in the face of adversity, if you were not there for me. And last but not least, my most special thanks are dedicated to Marko! Without your love, unconditional support and critical and constructive comments on this work, I would have never got to the final stage of this research. I still do not know how to thank you for all your help, including editorial. Thank you for always being there for me, for your patience, for bringing me my evening cup of tea to energise me and give me some additional strength for writing, and all those times when you helped me keep my faith in this project! Again, words do not suffice to express my gratitude for your love and support! Finally, I would like to thank Aili and Brynolf Honkalsalo Fund as well as the Research Foundation and Legal Research Fund of the University of Helsinki