The Right to Religious Freedom

Michael J. Perry

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511657566.005

4 - The Right to Religious Freedom

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2010

Michael J. Perry

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Michael J. Perry: Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta

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Summary

Again, liberal democracy is, as such, committed to certain human rights. No country is truly a democracy unless it is committed to – unless it recognizes and protects, as a fundamental legal right – the right to political freedom: the right, that is, to freedom to seek, receive, and share information and ideas; to vote, and to run for and hold office; and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Similarly, no country is truly a liberal democracy unless it recognizes and protects, as a fundamental legal right, the right to religious freedom – the right, that is, to freedom of religious practice. Commitment to the right to religious freedom is a sine qua non of liberal democracy. Nonetheless, the case for liberal democracy's commitment to the right to religious freedom is not self-evident.

As I explained in Chapter 1, we who affirm the morality of human rights, because we affirm it, should press our elected representatives not only not to violate human beings – any human beings – or otherwise cause them unwarranted suffering; we should also press them to recognize and protect certain moral claims as fundamental legal claims: moral claims about what may not be done, or about what must be done, especially by government, given that every human being has inherent dignity and is inviolable. The law of human rights is one way of trying to prevent governments – and others – from violating human beings or otherwise causing them unwarranted suffering.

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Political Morality of Liberal Democracy , pp. 65 - 87

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511657566.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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