Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion, or religious liberty—also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB)—is the principle that allows individuals and communities, in both public and private settings, to express their religion or belief through teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also covers the right to hold no religion or belief at all, often referred to as freedom from religion. Most nations view this as a fundamental human right, and it is safeguarded by major international human rights agreements, including the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In countries with an official state religion, freedom of religion typically means the government allows other faiths to practice and does not persecute believers of other religions or those with no faith. The concept of religious liberty is often linked to secular liberalism, and it excludes authoritarian forms of secularism. At a minimum, freedom of religion includes freedom of belief—the right to believe whatever a person, group, or religion chooses, including irreligion like atheism, humanism, existentialism, or other non-belief. Some argue it must also include freedom of practice—the right to openly and publicly engage in religious or non-religious activities. A third term, freedom of worship, can be seen as synonymous with both belief and practice, or as a middle ground between them. A key question in religious liberty is whether religious practices or actions motivated by religion that break secular laws should be allowed under the protection of freedom of religion. This issue has been addressed in court cases such as the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in *Reynolds v. United States* and *Wisconsin v. Yoder*, the European case *S.A.S. v. France*, and many others worldwide. Symbols of religious freedom appear in notable places globally. The Statue of Liberty in New York, originally created to mark the end of slavery in the U.S. in 1865, later came to symbolize hope for religious refugees. The Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, built in 1701, is the oldest continuously active synagogue in Europe. The Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, represents religious inclusivity and freedom of worship. Other key sites include the Bahá'í Gardens in Haifa, Israel, which highlight the unity of humanity and freedom of belief, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg in Germany, where Martin Luther’s actions sparked the Reformation, symbolizing the fight for religious reform and liberty. **History**

Historically, freedom to worship was often limited through punitive taxation, repressive social laws, and political disenfranchisement. Scholars often cite the status of *dhimmis* under Islamic sharia law as an example. Stemming from the Pact of Umar, *dhimmis*—meaning “protected individuals”—are argued to have enjoyed greater freedoms than non-Christians in most medieval European societies, though this protection was limited by government regulation and obligations such as taxation (compare *jizya* and *zakat*) and military service, which differed by religion. In modern concepts of religious freedom, the law is usually blind to religious affiliation. In antiquity, a syncretic viewpoint often allowed communities of traders to operate under their own customs. When street mobs from different quarters clashed in Hellenistic or Roman cities, the issue was generally seen as a violation of community rights. Cyrus the Great established the Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC and initiated a general policy of permitting religious freedom across the empire, documented on the Cyrus Cylinder. Freedom of religious worship was established in the Buddhist Maurya Empire of ancient India by Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BC, as recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. Greek-Jewish clashes at Cyrene in 73 AD and 117 AD, and in Alexandria in 115 AD, show cosmopolitan cities as scenes of unrest. Genghis Khan, in the 13th century, was one of the first rulers to enact a law explicitly guaranteeing religious freedom to everyone and every religion. **Ancient Roman policy**

The Romans tolerated most religions, including Judaism, and encouraged local subjects to continue worshipping their own gods. However, they did not tolerate Christianity because Christians refused to honor the official cult of the emperor, until it was legalized by Emperor Galerius in 311. Holmes and Bickers note that as long as Christianity was seen as part of Judaism—which was generally tolerated due to its antiquity and its practice of making offerings on behalf of the emperor—it enjoyed the same freedom. But the Christian claim to religious exclusivity led to hostility. The early Christian apologist Tertullian was the first known writer to use the term “freedom of religion” (*libertas religionis*), in the 24th chapter of his *Apologeticum*. He argued for tolerance of all religious views in his epistle to proconsul Scapula, stating: “It is a human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions: one man’s religion neither harms nor helps another man.