Contenuti per la categoria: Separatismo

Legal secularism and political participation

ABSTRACT: As is well known, the Italian term ‘laicità’ is polysemic and cannot be adequately translated into English. The word ‘secularism’, in fact, only captures certain senses of ‘laicità’. Ultimately, we are dealing with a very complex phenomenon that surely cannot be analyzed with a dichotomic black and white concept. In this paper we are mainly interested in highlighting legal secularism, understood as neutrality. However, we must pay attention to the fact that liberal neutrality, understood as mutual tolerance and impartiality of institutions, is a “committed neutrality” which deeply differs from Max Weber’s uncommitted neutrality to which scientists aspire. On the other hand, the ideal of legal secularism comes into harsh conflict with the partisan spirit that characterizes political life. Democracy is not only respect for rules, but must come to terms with the citizens’ variegated senses of belonging to this or that community. As they say: “My country, right or wrong”. Precisely because of these limits to rational discourse, we believe that legal secularism, in a broad sense, is not fully achievable even in an open society.

ABSTRACT: The article analyzes the recent Latvian Law by which the State unilaterally declares the autocephaly of the Latvian Orthodox Church. The latter was previously under the Patriarchate of Moscow and all Russias. In addition, the study illustrates the changes made to the Law of Latvia, on the legal status of this Church. Much emphasis is put on the violation of the principle of separation, enshrined in art. 99 of the Latvian Constitution, further addressing the tendency to change the ecclesiastical policy of the European Union as a result of the war in Ukraine.

SUMMARY: 1. The State proclaims by law the autocephaly of the Latvian Orthodox Church - 2. Birth and development of the Latvian Orthodox Church - 3. The Religious Freedom Law and its amendments - 4. The Law on the Latvian Orthodox Church and the amendments made by the Saeima in 2019-2022 - 5. State legislative intervention, separatism and the Constitution - 6. Separatism, secularism and neo-jurisdictionalism in the European Union.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Il Primo emendamento e le garanzie gemelle dell’Establishment Clause e del Free Exercise Clause: una panoramica ricostruttiva - 2.1. I tre principali test utilizzati dalla Corte in sede di judicial review e basati sul Primo emendamento: il Lemon test, l’Endorsement test e il Coercion test - 2.2. La recente sentenza Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. del 27 luglio 2022: l’abbandono (definitivo) del Lemon test in favore del criterio ermeneutico orientato alla “history and tradition” - 3. Le origini e la mobilitazione politica del motto degli Stati Uniti d’America - 3.1. Il XVIII secolo, la Rivoluzione americana e la diffusione del motto “E Pluribus Unum” - 3.2. Il XIX secolo e la Guerra Civile: la giustapposizione di “In God We Trust” accanto a “E Pluribus Unum” - 3.3. Il XX secolo e la Guerra fredda: “In God We Trust” diventa (l’unico) motto nazionale - 3.4. I diversi usi del motto nazionale lungo il dispiegarsi della storia - 4. Le caratteristiche dell’American civil religion e le sue ambivalenze - 5. Il motto nazionale in alcuni significativi obiter della Corte suprema: il deismo cerimoniale e le sue critiche - 5.1. Il deismo cerimoniale in alcune pronunce della Corte suprema - 5.2. Le riflessioni (preoccupate) della dottrina - 6. Riflessioni conclusive e spunti di comparazione - 6.1. L’uso della storia e della cultura nell’ordinamento italiano: cenni di comparazione sull’insegnamento della religione cattolica e sull’esposizione del crocifisso a scuola - 6.2. L’altro verso dell’American civil religion: ideologia e populismo.

The U.S. motto "In God We Trust" in light of the history and tradition “of the First Amendment

ABSTRACT: This essay reflects upon the U.S. national motto “In God We Trust” and religious liberty. It describes the birth and the life of the U.S. national motto from an historical and a normative perspective, and in relation with three crucial events that forged the United States’ historical conscience: the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Cold War. It highlights how the motto has embraced different purposes and meanings, as well as attained varying levels of religiosity. After having introduced the main features of American civil religion, the paper pays attention to the various obiter that the Supreme Court has offered about the constitutionality of this symbol. The conclusions focus on two aspects: a brief comparison with the Italian legal system, which underlines the existing similarities between the “history and tradition” argument fostered by the U.S. Supreme Court and the appeal to the “historical heritage” and the “religious culture” that can be found in the Italian legal and political debates on the display of the crucifix in the classroom and the teaching of the Catholic religion. Secondly, they reflect about the ideological and illiberal turn that the American civil religion may take.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La monarchia di Idris Al Senussi e la Costituzione del 1951 - 3. L’Islam nella Libia di Re Idris - 4. Moammar Gheddafi e la Terza Teoria Universale: l’Islam all’interno del “Nuovo” sistema libico - 5. Gheddafi e il movimento islamista - 6. La caduta di Gheddafi, la Dichiarazione Costituzionale del 2011 e l’Islam - 7. L’ultima bozza del 2017 e i contrasti infiniti - 8. Brevi riflessioni.

The Constitution and the role of Islam in Libya from independence to the fall of Moammar Gaddafi: origins and perspectives

ABSTRACT: This study aims to retrace Libya's constitutional path from Independence, obtained in December 1951, up to the "post-Gaddafi" era, which began with his fall in October 2011 and where the agreement on a new Constitution is still today - after more than ten years - one of the thorniest issues in the construction of a real Libyan State. Particular emphasis will be given to the religious aspect that has characterized the Constitutional Charter of Libya in its short national history and to the religious challenges faced in the different historical phases. The study will be divided into three parts. The first one will try to frame the constitutional discourse in the new independent Libya under the monarchy of King Idris al-Senussi. In the second part, will be addressed to the drastic changes that occurred with Moammar Gaddafi's rise to power. Finally, in the last part will try to draw a picture of what the situation is today and to understand what are actually the obstacles that are holding back an agreement between the rival factions (East and West) on a shared Constitution.

SOMMARIO: 1. Una sentenza attesa: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization - 2. Motivazioni offensive e preoccupanti - 3. Una decisione all’insegna del principio democratico e della chiarezza normativa? - 4. Questioni spinose - 5. Dobbs, ovvero la morte del potere di judicial review della SCOTUS?

Dobbs: the alarming implications of a political overturning of the right to abortion

ABSTRACT: With Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization the Supreme Court of United States overturned Roe v. Wade, upending almost 50 years of abortion rights in the United States. In commenting the case this article highlights the many problems arising from the decision: its bringing about new divisive legal issues; its possible outreach in terms of other fundamental liberties that could soon be cancelled; and especially the decline of the Supreme Court legitimacy that could call into question its very judicial review power.
 

SOMMARIO: 1. La questione dell’aborto e la perdita di credibilità della Corte Suprema statunitense - 2. Una tempesta perfetta? - 3. La partita della fiducia.

The case of abortion: a slippery slope for SCOTUS?

ABSTRACT: The case of the right of abortion in the United States is going to represent much more than a mere legal question. The upcoming decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on the matter involves its own credibility as a third party institution in a check and balance system where the SCOTUS is increasingly perceived as a political player. In this paper the A. tries to explore why it is so.

SUMARIO: - 1. Cuestión metodógica previa - 2. La crisis de los modelos tradicionales de comunidades religiosas a causa de los cambios en un mercado religioso cada vez más plural y competitivo - 3. La crisis de la edulcorada y estereotipada historia oficial de EUA y del americanismo como religión cívica - 4. El desarrollo de la religión cívica estadounidense y el papel político del evangelismo en ese proceso - 5. La evolución del evangelismo estadounidense y su influencia en los poderes Legislativo y Ejecutivo - 6. El papel del sionismo neo-evangelista en la política estadounidense - 7. Los lobbies religiosos indirectos en Estados Unidos y su papel en la política estadounidense mediante los religious advocacy groups y el National Prayer Breakfast - 8. Las contradicciones en los estándares elaborados por el USSC para una separación institucional Iglesia-Estado - 9. Conclusiones - Bibliografía.

Crisis of the Institutional Separation between Church and State in USA and the Emergence of Conservative Neo-evangelism in the Political Sphere

 ABSTRACT: This article analyzes the cumulative causes of the progressive decay in the institutional and jurisprudential separation between Church and State in the United States from an interdisciplinary methodological approach, including sociological, economic, historical, and political elements interacting with the American legal system. It reviews the changes in the American civic religion, the plural religious denominationalism facilitating a new religious market, the increasing entanglement between religion and politics, and the role of neo-evangelicalism in the elections and the US policies at domestic and international levels. It includes some changes in the US Supreme Court that facilitates increasing paradoxes in the First Amendment jurisprudence regarding the Free Exercise and Non-Establishment clauses.

SOMMARIO: 1. Gli interventi del presidente Macron del 2018 e la battaglia contro il “separatismo islamista” - 2. Il percorso del progetto di legge “confortant le respect des principes de la République” - 3. Struttura e principali contenuti della legge - 3.1. “Garantir le respect des principes de la République et des exigences minimales de la vie en société” - 3.2. “Garantir le libre exercice du culte” - 4. “Qualcosa di nuovo, anzi di antico”.

The French law 24th August 2021, no. 1109, “consolidating respect for the principles of the Republic”

ABSTRACT: In October 2020, President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to sponsor a law opposing “Islamic separatism” in French society. Introduced in December 2020 by the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the bill contains measures on neutrality of the public service, fight against online hatred, protection of civil servants (e.g. teachers) and several criminal provisions, which aim at repressing conducts denoting radicalism. The French Parliament passed the controversial law - it is sometimes described as going contrary to the liberal values of the Republic that it seeks to protect - on 23rd July 2021 and President Macron promulgated it on 24th August. The contribution provides an overview of the new law.

SOMMARIO: 1. Considerazioni introduttive - 2. Minoranze religiose e costruzione della nazione - 3. Per una storia delle minoranze religiose.

Religious minorities in Italy: a historical-religious perspective

ABSTRACT: The history of religious minorities in unitary Italy has been deeply linked to the construction of the national state both in its formative phase (the Risorgimento) and in the period of liberal Italy. The responses ranged between a desire for integration, as in the Jewish case, and an occasional and missionary presence, as in the case of certain Evangelical communities. The Great War, first, the twenty years of Fascism, then, profoundly changed this situation, further marginalizing the religious minorities also as a consequence of the 1929 Concordat.

SOMMARIO: 1. Le ragioni di rinnovata attualità di una ricerca storica, religiosa e normativa sulla spiritualità giapponese - 2. Riflessi di natura costituzionale: la costruzione giuridica di un ordinamento nuovo, tra vestigia imperiali e modernità internazionale - 3. Le religioni tradizionali, tra continuità ed elaborazione progressiva - 4. Uno sguardo alle condizioni materiali dei culti di minoranza: problemi e prospettive per un nuovo sincretismo diffuso - 5. I segni di una precisa spiritualità collettiva nel disposto costituzionale e nella legislazione recente: possibili aperture per nuovi studi - 6. Conclusioni in progress: il paradigma nipponico come modello extra-regionale.

The Kingdom of the Emperor. Typicality and contradictions in the Japanese institutional paradigm of religious regulation

ABSTRACT: The history of Japanese legal institutions has probably known in recent years a lack of attention due to the affirmation of other legal paradigms in the same Asian continent. It could seem a plausible underestimation because Japan has usually reached a leading role in the constant evolution of constitutional rules and concrete everyday praxes. An important aspect of this tradition certainly consists in the peculiar Japanese religious approach: a form of customary culture and not only a specific regulation, crossing many spiritual teachings and belongings (Confucianism, Buddhism and Shintoism, with a more recent but truly significant monotheistic nationwide proselytism). The main purpose of this analysis is to notice how this objectively composite religious framework has surprisingly influenced the shape and the implementation of constitutional principles, still offering an interesting overview able to clear up misunderstandings in the intercultural debate between the Western constitutionalism and the Eastern mentality.