Routledge Handbook of Freedom of Religion or Belief

Silvio Ferrari is Professor of Law at the University of Milan, Italy. Mark Hill QC is Associate Professor at the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University; University of Pretoria; Notre Dame University Law School, Sydney; and King’s College, London. He lectures in law at the Open University. Arif A. Jamal is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Rossella Bottoni is Associate Professor of Law and Religion at the Faculty of Law of the University of Trento, Italy.

Introduction. Locating the right to freedom of religion or belief across time and territory

Part I History of the right to freedom of religion or belief



The right to freedom of religion: an historical perspective from the West


The right to freedom of religion: an historical perspective from Asia


The right to freedom of religion: an historical perspective from Africa


The right to freedom of belief: an historical perspective on secular humanism
Part II The right of religious freedom from the religions’ perspective


Buddhist Perspectives on Freedom of Religion and Belief


Religious freedom: Christian perspectives


Hindu perspectives on the right to religious freedom


The right of religious freedom in contemporary Islamic thought


Jewish perspectives


Building an inter-religious notion of the right to freedom of religion: Dangers, opportunities and goals Part III Geopolitics of the right to freedom of religion


Geopolitics of the right to freedom of religion. Western perspectives


Freedom of religion: Asian perspectives


The right to freedom of religion and belief: African perspectives Part IV Mapping the right to freedom of religion


Freedom of religion: constitutional patterns of protection


The right to religious freedom in international human rights law: a brief overview and exploration of its positive dimension


The right to freedom of and from religion for and among indigenous peoples
Part V The dynamics of the right to freedom of religion


The organic unity of human rights and the place of freedom of religion or belief: challenge and response


The dialectics of the right to freedom of religion or belief