Book contents
- Christianity and International Law
- Law and Christianity
- Christianity and International Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Christianity and International Law: An Introduction
- 2 The Byzantine Commonwealth and the Emerging Features of a Law of Nations in the First Millennium
- 3 Christianity and the Birth of Ambassadorial Deontology: Some Historical Notes
- 4 Formation and Refiguration of the Canon Law on Trade with Infidels (c.1200–c.1600)
- 5 God, Sovereignty, and the Morality of Intervention outside Europe
- 6 The Significance of Christian Charity to International Law
- 7 Hugo Grotius: On Freedom of the Seas and Human Nature
- 8 Ius gentium et naturae: The Human Conscience and Early Modern International Law
- 9 Legalizing Antisemitism? The Legacy of Savigny’s Roman(tic) Law
- 10 Missionary Knowledge and the Empirical Foundations of Modern International Legal Thought
- 11 Standards for a Righteous and Civilized World: Religion and America’s Emergence as a Global Power
- 12 International Protestantism and Its Changing Religious Freedoms
- 13 Beyond the Freedom of Worship: The Contested Meaning of Religious Freedom in International Human Rights Law and Politics, 1945–1967
- 14 Process Theology and a Pluralistic Foundation for Human Rights
- 15 Christianity and Human Rights Law: Orthodox Perspectives
- 16 Conquest, Sacred Sites, and “Religion” in a Time of Crisis
- 17 Constantine’s Legacy: Preserving Empire While Undermining International Law
- 18 Hopelessly Practicing Law: Asylum Seekers, Advocates, and Hostile Jurisdictions
- 19 The Hidden Theology of International Legal Positivism
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- References
13 - Beyond the Freedom of Worship: The Contested Meaning of Religious Freedom in International Human Rights Law and Politics, 1945–1967
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 May 2021
Book contents
- Christianity and International Law
- Law and Christianity
- Christianity and International Law
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Christianity and International Law: An Introduction
- 2 The Byzantine Commonwealth and the Emerging Features of a Law of Nations in the First Millennium
- 3 Christianity and the Birth of Ambassadorial Deontology: Some Historical Notes
- 4 Formation and Refiguration of the Canon Law on Trade with Infidels (c.1200–c.1600)
- 5 God, Sovereignty, and the Morality of Intervention outside Europe
- 6 The Significance of Christian Charity to International Law
- 7 Hugo Grotius: On Freedom of the Seas and Human Nature
- 8 Ius gentium et naturae: The Human Conscience and Early Modern International Law
- 9 Legalizing Antisemitism? The Legacy of Savigny’s Roman(tic) Law
- 10 Missionary Knowledge and the Empirical Foundations of Modern International Legal Thought
- 11 Standards for a Righteous and Civilized World: Religion and America’s Emergence as a Global Power
- 12 International Protestantism and Its Changing Religious Freedoms
- 13 Beyond the Freedom of Worship: The Contested Meaning of Religious Freedom in International Human Rights Law and Politics, 1945–1967
- 14 Process Theology and a Pluralistic Foundation for Human Rights
- 15 Christianity and Human Rights Law: Orthodox Perspectives
- 16 Conquest, Sacred Sites, and “Religion” in a Time of Crisis
- 17 Constantine’s Legacy: Preserving Empire While Undermining International Law
- 18 Hopelessly Practicing Law: Asylum Seekers, Advocates, and Hostile Jurisdictions
- 19 The Hidden Theology of International Legal Positivism
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter offers a brief history of how religious freedom has been conceptualized in international human rights law and politics after 1945, starting with the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) Article 18 on the freedom of conscience, religion or belief, and ending with the aborted attempts in the 1960s to craft an international treaty on religious intolerance and discrimination. The chapter highlights how religious freedom over time became linked to a wider human rights discourse centered on combating different forms of structural injustice. It concludes with a set of critical reflections on recent attempts, including by the Donald J. Trump administration in the United States, to return to the “moral landscape” of the 1940s in order to salvage an allegedly natural right to religious freedom from the more comprehensive framework of human rights.
Keywords
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- Christianity and International LawAn Introduction, pp. 263 - 280Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Recommended Reading
Bouwman, Bastiaan. “From Religious Freedom to Social Justice: The Human Rights Engagement of the Ecumenical Movement from the 1940s to the 1970s.” Journal of Global History 13, no. 2 (2018): 252–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, Steven L. B. The Making of International Human Rights: The 1960s, Decolonization, and the Reconstruction of Global Values. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Lindkvist, Linde. Religious Freedom and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shortall, Sarah. “Theology and Politics of Christian Human Rights.” Journal of the History of Ideas 79, no. 3 (2018): 445–60.Google Scholar
Su, Anna. Exporting Freedom: Religious Liberty and American Power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Zubovich, Gene. “American Protestants and the Era of Anti-racist Human Rights.” Journal of the History of Ideas 79, no. 3 (2018): 427–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed