Taking secularism (not too) seriously: The Italian 'Crucifix Case'

Religion and Human Rights

Volumn 1, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 179-195

  Mancini, Susanna ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA   (Italy)

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EID: 80051997430     PISSN: 1871031X     EISSN: 18710328     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/187103206778884820     Document Type: Review

References (38)

1. Associate Professor of Public Comparative Law, Faculty of Law, University of Bologna, Italy.
2. Samantha Knights, Religious Symbols in the Schools: Freedom of Religion, Minorities and Education (2005) 5 European Human Rights Law Review, p. 501.
3. For a comprehensive overview of the different European solutions see Emmanuelle Bribosia, Isabelle Rorive, 'Le voile à l'école: une Europe divisée' (2004) 60 Revue Trimestrielle des Droits de l'homme p. 951 et seq.
4. Martha Nussbaum, Women and Human Development, The Capabilities Approach (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000), p. 168.
5. Ayelet Shachar, "Reshaping the Multicultural Model: Group Accommodation and Individual Rights,", in (1998) 83 Heinonline 8 Windsor Rev. Legal & Soc
6. and, more extensively, Multicultural Jurisdictions: Cultural Differences and Women's Rights, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge-New York, 2001).
7. Frances Raday 'Cult ure, Religion and Gender' (2003) 1-8 ICON, p. 695.
8. All work-related earnings of Catholic priests and bishops are exempt from income taxes. Real estate, buildings, and houses owned by the Catholic Church are exempt from property taxes; while other religious groups (depending on the municipal jurisdiction) must pay property taxes for schools and clergy residences. See the International Religious Freedom Report 2005, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor , 5 June 2006.
9. Corte Costituzionale, Decision n. 203/1989 , 5 June 2006.
10. Corte Costituzionale, Decisions n. 203/1989; n. 259/1990; n. 13/1991; n. 195/1993; n. 421/1993; n. 334/1996; n. 329/1997; n. 508/2000; n. 327/2002: , 5 June 2006.
11. Smith v Scuola Materna ed Elementare statale "Antonio Silveri" di Ofena. 23 October 2003 Tribunale del'Aquila, Court Order, , 5 June 2006.
12. Decision n. 439/2000, 1 March 2000, Corte di Cassazione-Sez. IV Penale, , 5 June 2006.
13. This is actually a rather oversimplified outline. For a detailed analysis see Roberto Bin, Giuditta Brunelli, Andrea Pugiotto, Paolo Veronesi (eds.), La Laicità crocifissa. Il nodo costituzionale dei sim-boli religiosi nei luoghi pubblici, (Giappichelli, Torino, 2004).
14. Stefano Ceccanti, 'Se la Corte andasse in Baviera?', in Ibid., p. 1 et seq.
15. Corte Costituzionale, Court Order n. 389/2004, , 5 June 2006.
16. T:A:R. Veneto, Decision n. 1110 of 17 March 2005 (para. 16). , 5 June 2006.
17. Claudio Martinelli, "La questione del crocifisso tra esperienza giurisprudenziale e intervento parlamentare,", in Edoardo Dieni, Alessandro Ferrari, Vincenzo Pacillo (eds), 1 Simboli religiosi tra diritto e culture, (Giuffrè Editore, Milano, 2006), p. 160 et seq.
18. Edoardo Dieni, Simboli, religioni, regole e paradossi, paper presented at the Round Table on 'Crocifisso, velo e turbante. Simboli e comportamenti religiosi nella società plurale', Campobasso, 21 Aprile 2005
19. quoted by Nicola Fiorita, 'Il crocifisso da simbolo confessionale a simbolo neo-confes-sionalista' in Dieni, Ferrari, Pacillo (eds), supra note 24, p. 182.
20. See on this issue Roberto, Bin, 'Inammissibile, ma inevitabile' in Bin, Brunelli, Pugiotto, Veronesi (eds.), supra note 16, p. 40.
21. Corte Costituzionale, Decision n. 189/1987, , 5 June 2006.
22. Alessandro Morelli, 'Icone, simboli di stato e monopolio dei segni religiosi', (2004) 1 Quaderni Costituzionali, p. 143.
23. Stone v Graham 449 U.S. 39 (1980), , 10 June 2006.
24. Bundesverfassungsgericht Decision of 16 May 1995, 1 BvR 1087/91 ("Kruzifix-Urteil,"), , 10 June 2006.
25. See the declaration of 23 April 2002 concerning the debate over the obligatory display of the crucifix in the public domain by three religious periodicals ("Missionari Severiani", "CEM", "Missione oggi",), , 5 June 2006.
26. Alessandro Morelli, 'Simboli, religioni e valori negli ordinamenti democratici' in Dieni, Ferrari, Pacillo (eds), supra note 24, pp. 85 ss.
27. Silvio Ferrari, 'Le religioni nel processo di unificazione' in (2004) 2 Concilium, p. 67.
28. Jlia Pasquali Cerioli, 'Laicità dello stato ed esposizione del crocifisso nelle strutture pubbliche' in Dieni, Ferrari, Pacillo (eds), supra note 24, p. 144.
29. 'State neutrality' is used sometimes (e.g. by the Swiss Federal Tribunal) as a synonymous of "secularism"' I have not used the two terms as equivalent, as 'state neutrality' is only one component of the principle of secularism. The Italian Constitutional Court elucidated this issue, stating that secularism also implies the duty of the State organs to avoid, "a penetrating interference in the way of being and in the activities of the religious communities" and implies "the safeguard of freedom of religion in a confessionally and culturally pluralistic system" (Decision n. 259/1990, which referred to the Jewish community). Moreover, the Court stated that the principle of secularism is "essentially characterized by the distinction between the sphere of temporal questions and the sphere of religious experiences"; therefore "religion ⋯ cannot be imposed as a mean to achieve a State objective,": Corte Costituzionale, Decision n. 334/1996, , 5 June 2006.
30. Bundesverfassungsgericht, Decision of 16 May 1995 ("Kruzifix-Urteil, "), supra note 34.
31. Comune di Cadro v Bernasconi 26 September 1990, Tribunale Federale Svizzero, I Corte di Diritto Pubblico, , 11 June 2006.
32. Lemon v. Kurtzman 403 U.S. 602, (1971), 612-613, , 6 June 2006.
33. Bundesverwaltungsgericht, Decision n. 21/1999 of 21 April 1999, , 10 June 2006.
34. Omar Chessa, La laicità come uguale rispetto e considerazione, , 5 June 2006. The influence on schoolmates of clothes which are associated with fundamentalism is one of the arguments brought about by the Denbigh High School in defence of its uniform policy in the Begum case. Similar arguments have been stressed by the French Mission d'Information which submitted a report on religious symbols in the school to the Parliament before the enactment of Law n. 228 of 17 March 2004. But in no case there has been a suggestion that there is an individual right to object to the wearing of religious clothes by pupils in the schools.
35. Ronald Dworkin, A Matter of Principles, (Harvard, Cambridge, 1985).
36. Quoted by Mark Tushnet, A Court Divided. The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional law (Norton & C, New York, 2005), p. 185.
37. Zygmunt, Bauman, Liquid Modernity (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2000).
38. Bundesverfassungericht, decision of 24 September 2003: , 5 June 2006.