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RESTORING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2015

Rafael Domingo
Rafael Domingo*
Affiliation:
Professor of Law and ICS Research Professor at the University of Navarra; Francisco de Vitoria Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University
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Abstract

This paper argues that secular legal systems need a better defined space for freedom of conscience because this important right has been crowded out by both freedom of religion and freedom of thought. Based on the principles of the Protestant Reformation, American constitutionalism expanded the idea of freedom of conscience to the point of making it almost interchangeable with freedom of religion. On the other hand, international law, followed by European constitutional law, reduced the political force of the concept of freedom of conscience by assimilating it to freedom of thought. And yet freedom of conscience cannot be treated just the same as either religious freedom or freedom of thought. By nature, the secular legal systems of political communities are moral, but nonreligious. So morality and religion affect legal systems in different ways. For this reason, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion should be protected using different legal devices. The so-called privilege of abstaining (beneficium abstinendi) best protects freedom of conscience; freedom of religion, by contrast, is appropriately protected by what I call the religious exception (exceptio religiosa). The consequences of applying these legal tools in particular cases, and their proper scopes, depend on the constitutional model of the political community in question. But in general, an increasingly globalized, diverse, and multicultural society demands a wider application of both these legal tools.

Keywords

freedom of consciencefreedom of religionfreedom of thoughtaccommodationexemptionspublic morality
Type
ARTICLES
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 176 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2015 

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References

1 See Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, U.N. Doc. A/RES/217(III) (Dec. 10, 1948), art. 18; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, S. Exec. Rep. 102–23, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, art. 18; Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Nov. 4, 1950, Europ. T.S. No. 5, 213 U.N.T.S. 221, art. 9; Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, G.A. Res. 36/55, 36 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 171, U.N. Doc. A/36/684 (Nov. 25, 1981), art. 1.

2 For an overview of the American experience and its inconsistencies, see Witte, John Jr., and Nichols, Joel A., Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, 3rd ed. (Philadelphia: Westview Press, 2011), 287–94Google Scholar. See also Nussbaum, Martha, Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality (New York: Basic Books, 2008);Google ScholarGreenawalt, Kent, Religion and the Constitution, 2 vols. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006–2009)Google Scholar; Koppelman, Andrew, Defending American Religious Neutrality (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013)Google Scholar.

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9 For a development of these three aspects, see Witte and Nichols, American Constitutional Experiment, 42–45.

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18 See Domingo, Rafael, “The Metalegal God,” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 16, no. 1 (2014): 147–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 This position is defended by any positivistic approach to the law, which tries (ultimately without success) to separate from the legal system any kind of moral element.

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21 In the same vein, see Audi, Robert, Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a theistic approach to morality, see Murphy, Mark C., God and Moral Law: On the Theistic Explanation of Morality (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Evans, C. Stephen, God and Moral Obligation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Ronald Dworkin's book Justice for Hedgehogs is the most recent important attempt to support morality without religion. Dworkin, Ronald, Justice for Hedgehogs (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011)Google Scholar; see also Dworkin, Ronald, Religion without God (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), 10–21Google Scholar.

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28 In this vein, see Habermas, Jürgen, Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010), 120Google Scholar.

29 I develop this argument in Domingo, Rafael, “A New Paradigm for Religious Freedom,” Journal of Church and State 56, no. 3 (2014): 427–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Religion as a social phenomenon is paradigmatic in America. For an excellent descriptive account, see Micklethwait, John and Wooldridge, Adrian, God is Back (New York: Penguin Books, 2009)Google Scholar.

31 For an approach to conscience as a matter of space, see Vischer, Robert K., Conscience and the Common Good (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)Google Scholar.

32 Cf. Human Rights Committee, General Comment 22, Article 18 (48th Session, 1993), U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4 (1993).

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34 However, freedom of thought is not the first expression of freedom that human beings recognize. In the same vein, “We first become aware of freedom or its opposite in our intercourse with others, not in the intercourse with ourselves.” Arendt, Between Past and Future, 147.

35 See Epictetus, Discourses, trans. Matheson, P. E. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916)Google Scholar, IV.I (“That man is free, who lives as he wishes, who is proof against compulsion and hindrance and violence, whose impulses are untrammeled, who gets what he wills to get and avoids what he wills to avoid.”).

36 See Alexy, A Theory of Constitutional Rights, 124.

37 These rights are potentially important ways to protect freedom of thought. For an overview of the current debate about freedom of speech in relation with freedom of thought, see Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 In the same vein, see Murdoch, Jim, Protecting the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion (Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2012)Google Scholar, 18.

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49 See especially Finnis, John, Natural Law and Natural Rights (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 89–90Google Scholar.

50 In the same vein, see Greenawalt, Kent, Religion and the Constitution, vol. 1, Free Exercise and Fairness (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 137Google Scholar.

51 Mill, On Liberty, 62.

52 See Maclure, Jocelyn and Taylor, Charles, Secularism and Freedom of Conscience (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011), 68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Cf. the new wording of § 1631d(2) of the German Civil Code (BGB) on circumcision of the male child (“Beschneidung des männlichen Kindes”): “In the first six months after the birth of the child persons delegated for that purpose by a religious body too may perform circumcisions according to paragraph 1, if they are especially trained for that purpose and, without being physicians, are comparatively qualified for performing circumcisions.” Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch [BGB] [Civil Code], Aug. 18, 1896, Reichsgesetzblatt [RBGl.] 195, as amended, § 1631d, para. 2. (Ger.) (translation available at gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb/englisch_bgb.html).

54 The word “privilege” has very different meaning in common law, canon law, and civil law. For a general view see the definition of “privilege” in Garner, Bryan A., ed., Black's Law Dictionary, 9th ed. (St. Paul, MN: West, 2009), 179Google Scholar.

55 E.g., beneficium divisionis, beneficium cedendarum actionum, beneficium excussionis personalis, beneficium inventarii, or beneficium competentiae. For a general explanation of privileges in Roman Law, see Buckland, W. W. and Stein, Peter, A Text-Book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 449–50Google Scholar, 693. See also Kaser, Max, Das römische Privatrecht, vol. 1, Das altrömische, das vorklassische und klassische Recht (Munich: Beck Verlag, 1971)Google Scholar, 211, 664–66, 733–74.

56 For an explanation of this specific privilege, see Nicholas, Barry, An Introduction to Roman Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975)Google Scholar, 238, 240–41. See also Kaser, Das römische Privatrecht, 1:714–15, and Mousourakis, George, Fundamentals of Private Roman Law (New York: Springer, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 296, 298, 303. Roman legal sources refer to the privilege as a beneficium, Ulpian, in Justinian, Digest, 29.2.71.4, but also as a ius, Gaius, Institutes, 2.159, facultas, Gaius, Institutes, 2.160, or potestas, Gaius, in Justinian, Digest, 29.2.57.pr.

57 For a partial attempted reconstruction of the edict Si suus heres erit (§ 209–10) with the announcement of the privilege, see Lenel, Otto, Das Edictum Perpetuum, 3rd ed. (1927; repr. Aalen: Scientia, 1956), 418–21Google Scholar.

58 See ibid., 418n8.

59 For a brief, general but sound overview of the civil procedure in the Roman classical period, see Johnston, David, Roman Law in Context (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 112–32Google Scholar.

60 For an overview, see Greenawalt, Free Exercise and Fairness, 49–67.

61 For a comparative approach to different applications of this privilege, see Navarro-Valls, Rafael and Martinez-Torrón, Javier, Conflictos entre conciencia y Ley: Las objeciones de conciencia (Madrid: Iustel, 2012)Google Scholar. For an American overview, see Vischer, Robert K., Conscience and the Common Good (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 125–302Google Scholar.

62 In the same vein, see Rhonheimer, Martin, The Common Good of Constitutional Democracy, ed. Murphy, William F. Jr. (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2013), 118CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63 See Horace, Carmina, 3.2.25 (“Est et fideli tuta silentio merces.” (There is likewise a reward for loyal silence.)).

64 See Alexy, A Theory of Constitutional Rights, 151.

65 In the same vein, Rawls, John, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999), 324CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

66 See Maclure and Taylor, Secularism and Freedom of Conscience, 99 (“Since granting an accommodation modifies the terms of social cooperation and the distribution of resources, the petitioner must justify his request; in other words, he is faced with the obligation of public justification.”).

67 The religious exception is very far from becoming a matter of selective application of the principle of toleration to the conscience of only religious believers, which Brian Leiter is right to say would be “not morally defensible.” Leiter, Brian, Why Tolerate Religion? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 133Google Scholar. In my opinion, toleration is not the best justification for the ideal of religious freedom, as Leiter suggests. Religious exceptionalism cannot be understood just as a matter of toleration but as a matter of individual freedom within a political community, which is by definition nonreligious.

68 In this vein, see Waldron, Jeremy, Law and Disagreement (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

69 In this vein, but applied to the conscientious exemptions, see Nehushtan, Yossi, “What Are Conscientious Exemptions Really About?,” Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 2, no. 2 (2013): 393–416CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

70 Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990).

71 In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014), the U.S. Supreme Court allowed closely held for-profit corporations to be exempt from federal government regulations requiring employers to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees. This case represents the first time that the Supreme Court recognized a for-profit corporation's claim of religious belief, but it is limited to closely held corporations under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

72 The Ciceronian phrase is “silent enim leges inter arma” (in times of war, the laws fall silent). Cicero, Pro Milone, IV.11.