Religion takes a back seat to rights in court, says theologian
By Andrew Hough, Telegraph
The courts are endangering religious freedom because the judiciary are giving it a lower priority than equality, a leading philosopher has claimed.
Prof Roger Trigg of Kellogg College, Oxford, said that judges increasingly “curtail” the religious views of people in favour of other “social priorities”.
After studying a series of judgments throughout Britain, Europe and North America, he concluded there was a “clear trend” of judges favouring equality and non-discrimination over religious freedom.
Prof Trigg, a member of the university’s faculties of theology and philosophy, argued this was proof of how religion was coming under threat from the judiciary as part of a “hierarchy of rights”.
Prof Trigg, the founding President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion, said that as a result the courts were “limiting human freedom itself”.
“Religious freedom and the right to manifest religious belief is a central part of every charter of human rights,” he said on the eve of the launch of his book on Wednesday.
“But in recent years there has been a clear trend for courts in Europe and North America to prioritise equality and non-discrimination above religion, placing the right to religious freedom in danger.
“There should not be a hierarchy of rights, but it should be possible to take account of all of them in some way.”
He added: “No State can be a functioning democracy unless it allows its citizens to manifest their beliefs about what is most important in life.”