Religious Manifestation in Schools and the Role of the European Court of Human Rights
The increasing religious diversity that European countries have been experiencing raises the question on the appropriate legislation and policies for the accommodation of this pluralism. While national governments seek to respond to the challenges of religious diversity, human rights institutions emphasize the necessity of respecting religious freedoms. The role of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is pivotal in establishing the foundations for a common future of religious freedoms in Europe. Yet, the Court’s jurisprudence often raises more questions than it gives answers, leading to important contradictions in the ways in which religious diversity is handled. Nowhere is this more evident than in the question of religious manifestation in schools – the meeting space of religious diversity. This paper examines the inconsistencies in the Court’s intervention by looking at key examples of ECtHR case-law and by analyzing the principles of proportionality and the margin of appreciation. It considers the impact of the Court through a study of two opposing approaches to religious manifestation in education: France and Greece. The conclusions contribute to our understanding of the difficulties in envisioning a common European future over matters of religion and education. This ‘contradiction of religious freedoms’, the paper argues, stems as much from the respective historical paths and contemporary pressures that structure educational responses in France and Greece, as from the geopolitical interests and legislative principles that determine the intervention of the ECtHR.
