In a historic setting freedom to worship has often been limited in practice through punitive taxation, repressive social legislation, and political disenfranchisement. An example commonly cited by scholars is the status of
dhimmis under Islamic sharia law. Stemming from the
Pact of Umar and literally meaning "protected individuals", it is often argued that non-Muslims possessing the dhimmi status in medieval Islamic societies enjoyed greater freedoms than non-Christians in most medieval European societies, while duly noting that the protection was limited because of regulation by and obligations to government such as taxation (compare
jizya and
zakat) and military service differed between religions. In modern concepts of religious freedom, the law is usually blind to religious affiliation. In
Antiquity, a
syncretic point of view often allowed communities of traders to operate under their own customs. When street mobs of separate quarters clashed in a
Hellenistic or
Roman city, the issue was generally perceived to be an infringement of community rights.
Cyrus the Great established the
Achaemenid Empire ca. 550 BC, and initiated a general policy of permitting religious freedom throughout the empire, documenting this 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, which was encapsulated in the
Edicts of Ashoka. GreekJewish clashes at
Cyrene in 73 AD and 117 AD and in
Alexandria in 115 AD provide examples of cosmopolitan cities as scenes of tumult.
Genghis Khan was one of the first rulers who in 13th century enacted a law explicitly guaranteeing religious freedom to everyone and every religion.
Ancient Roman policy as a symbol of enlightened wisdom protects the believers of all religions (
Daniel Chodowiecki, 1791) The
Romans tolerated most religions, including
Judaism, and encouraged local subjects to continue worshipping their own gods. They did not, however, tolerate
Christianity because of the Christian refusal to offer honours to the official cult of the emperor until it was legalised by the Roman emperor
Galerius in 311. Holmes and Bickers note that as long as Christianity was treated as a part of Judaism, which was generally tolerated because of its antiquity and its practice of making offers on
behalf of the emperor, it enjoyed the same freedom, but the Christian claim to religious exclusivity meant its followers found themselves subject to hostility. The early Christian apologist
Tertullian was the first-known writer to employ the term "freedom of religion" (
libertas religionis), which appears in the 24th chapter of his
Apologeticum. He expanded on the case for the tolerance of all religious views in his epistle to
proconsul Scapula, in which he states {{Blockquote The
Edict of Milan guaranteed freedom of religion in the Roman Empire until the
Edict of Thessalonica in 380, which outlawed all religions except Christianity.
India Religious tolerance in India: A legacy of the past and a promise for the future Ancient Jews fleeing from
persecution in
their homeland 2,500 years ago settled in modern-day India and never faced
antisemitism. Freedom of religion
edicts have been found written during
Ashoka the Great's reign in the 3rd century BC. Freedom to practise, preach and propagate any religion is a constitutional right in Republic of India. Most major religious festivals of the main communities are included in the list of national holidays. Many scholars and intellectuals believe that India's predominant religion,
Hinduism, has long been a most tolerant religion.
Rajni Kothari, founder of the
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies has written, "[India] is a country built on the foundations of a civilisation that is fundamentally non-religious." praying at a
Jama Masjid in India, a majority-
Hindu country The
Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader in exile, said that religious tolerance of 'Aryabhoomi,' a reference to India found in the
Mahabharata, has been in existence in this country from thousands of years. "Not only Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which are the native religions but also Christianity and Islam have flourished here. Religious tolerance is inherent in Indian tradition," the Dalai Lama said. Freedom of religion in the
Indian subcontinent is exemplified by the reign of King Piyadasi (304–232 BC) (
Ashoka). One of King Ashoka's main concerns was to reform governmental institutes and exercise moral principles in his attempt to create a
just and humane society. Later he promoted the principles of
Buddhism, and the creation of a just, understanding and fair society was held as an important principle for many ancient rulers of this time in the East. The importance of freedom of worship in India was encapsulated in an inscription of
Ashoka: On the main Asian continent, the Mongols were tolerant of religions. People could worship as they wished freely and openly. After the arrival of Europeans, Christians in their zeal to convert local as per belief in conversion as service of God, have also been seen to fall into frivolous methods since their arrival, though by and large there are hardly any reports of law and order disturbance from mobs with Christian beliefs, except perhaps in the north eastern region of India. Freedom of religion in contemporary India is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 25 of the nation's constitution. Accordingly, every citizen of India has a right to profess, practice and propagate their religions peacefully. In September 2010, the Indian state of
Kerala's State Election Commissioner announced that "Religious heads cannot issue calls to vote for members of a particular community or to defeat the nonbelievers". The Catholic Church comprising Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara rites used to give clear directions to the faithful on exercising their franchise during elections through pastoral letters issued by bishops or council of bishops. The pastoral letter issued by Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) on the eve of the poll urged the faithful to shun atheists. In 1414,
Jan Hus, a
Bohemian preacher of reformation, was given a safe conduct by the Holy Roman Emperor to attend the
Council of Constance. Not entirely trusting in his safety, he made his will before he left. His forebodings proved accurate, and he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. The council also decreed that Wycliffe's remains be disinterred and cast out. This decree was not carried out until 1429. After the fall of the city of
Granada, Spain, in 1492, the Muslim population was promised religious freedom by the
Treaty of Granada, but that promise was short-lived. In 1501, Granada's Muslims were given an ultimatum to either convert to Christianity or to emigrate. The majority converted, but only superficially, continuing to dress and speak as they had before and to secretly practice Islam. The
Moriscos (converts to Christianity) were ultimately expelled from Spain between 1609 (Castile) and 1614 (rest of Spain), by
Philip III.
Martin Luther published his famous 95 Theses in
Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. His major aim was theological, summed up in the three basic dogmas of Protestantism: • The Bible only is infallible. • Every Christian can interpret it. • Human sins are so wrongful that no deed or merit, only God's grace, can lead to salvation. In consequence, Luther hoped to stop the sale of
indulgences and to reform the Church from within. In 1521, he was given the chance to recant at the
Diet of Worms before
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. After he refused to recant, he was declared heretic. Partly for his own protection, he was sequestered on the
Wartburg in the possessions of
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, where he translated the
New Testament into German. He was excommunicated by papal bull in 1521. However, the movement continued to gain ground in his absence and spread to Switzerland.
Huldrych Zwingli preached reform in
Zürich from 1520 to 1523. He opposed the sale of indulgences, celibacy, pilgrimages, pictures, statues, relics, altars, and organs. This culminated in outright war between the Swiss
cantons that accepted Protestantism and the Catholics. In 1531, the Catholics were victorious, and Zwingli was killed in battle. The Catholic cantons made peace with Zurich and Berne. The defiance of papal authority proved contagious, and in 1533, when
Henry VIII of England was excommunicated for his divorce and remarriage to Anne Boleyn, he promptly established a state church with bishops appointed by the crown. This was not without internal opposition, and
Thomas More, who had been his Lord Chancellor, was executed in 1535 for opposition to Henry. In 1535, the Swiss canton of Geneva became Protestant. In 1536, the
Bernese imposed the reformation on the canton of
Vaud by conquest. They sacked the cathedral in
Lausanne and destroyed all its art and statuary.
John Calvin, who had been active in Geneva was expelled in 1538 in a power struggle, but he was invited back in 1540. The same kind of seesaw back and forth between Protestantism and Catholicism was evident in England when
Mary I returned that country briefly to the Catholic fold in 1553 and persecuted Protestants. However, her half-sister,
Elizabeth I was to restore the
Church of England in 1558, this time permanently, and began to persecute Catholics again. The
King James Bible commissioned by King
James VI and I and published in 1611 proved a landmark for Protestant worship, with official Catholic forms of worship being banned. In France, although peace was made between Protestants and Catholics at the
Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1570, persecution continued, most notably in the
Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day on 24 August 1572, in which thousands of Protestants throughout France were killed. A few years before, at the "Michelade" of Nîmes in 1567, Protestants had massacred the local Catholic clergy.
Early steps and attempts in the way of tolerance of the
war memorial and a
menorah coexist in
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
The Norman Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II was characterized by its multi-ethnic nature and religious tolerance. Normans, Jews, Muslim Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards, and native Sicilians lived in harmony. Rather than exterminate the Muslims of Sicily, Roger II's grandson
Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1215–1250) allowed them to settle on the mainland and build mosques. Not least, he enlisted them in his Christian army and even into his personal bodyguards.
Kingdom of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 as a result of the
Bohemian Reformation, and became one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period of time. The so-called Basel Compacts of 1436 declared the freedom of religion and peace between Catholics and
Utraquists. In 1609 Emperor Rudolf II granted Bohemia greater religious liberty with his Letter of Majesty. The privileged position of the Catholic Church in the Czech kingdom was firmly established after the
Battle of White Mountain in 1620. Gradually freedom of religion in Bohemian lands came to an end and Protestants fled or were expelled from the country. A devout Catholic, Emperor
Ferdinand II forcibly converted Austrian and Bohemian Protestants. In the meantime, in Germany
Philip Melanchthon drafted the
Augsburg Confession as a common confession for the Lutherans and the free territories. It was presented to Charles V in 1530. '' (1789) guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society. In the
Holy Roman Empire, Charles V agreed to tolerate Lutheranism in 1555 at the
Peace of Augsburg. Each state was to take the religion of its prince, but within those states, there was not necessarily religious tolerance. Citizens of other faiths could relocate to a more hospitable environment. In France, from the 1550s, many attempts to reconcile Catholics and Protestants and to establish tolerance failed because the State was too weak to enforce them. It took the victory of prince Henry IV of France, who had converted into Protestantism, and his accession to the throne, to impose religious tolerance formalized in the
Edict of Nantes in 1598. It would remain in force for over 80 years until its revocation in 1685 by
Louis XIV. Intolerance remained the norm until Louis XVI, who signed the Edict of Versailles (1787), then the constitutional text of 24 December 1789, granting civilian rights to Protestants. The
French Revolution then abolished state religion and the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) guarantees freedom of religion, as long as religious activities do not infringe on public order in ways detrimental to society.
Early laws and legal guarantees for religious freedom Principality of Transylvania In 1558, the
Hungarian Diet's
Edict of Torda declared free practice of both Catholicism and Lutheranism. Calvinism, however, was prohibited. Calvinism was included among the accepted religions in 1564. Ten years after the first law, in 1568, the same Diet, under the chairmanship of
King of Hungary, and
Prince of Transylvania John Sigismund Zápolya (John II), following the teaching of
Ferenc Dávid, the founder of the
Unitarian Church of Transylvania, extended the freedom to all religions, declaring that "
It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for his religion". After hearing learned debate on the matter, King Sigismund ruled that society did not have the power to stifle religious expression. The lack of state religion was unique for centuries in Europe, and the Edict of Torda is considered as the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe. Four religions (
Catholicism,
Lutheranism,
Calvinism,
Unitarianism) were named as accepted religions (religo recepta), having their representatives in the Transylvanian Diet, while the other religions, like the
Orthodoxs,
Sabbatarians and
Anabaptists were tolerated churches (religio tolerata), which meant that they had no power in the law making and no veto rights in the Diet, but they were not persecuted in any way. Thanks to the Edict of Torda, from the last decades of the 16th century Transylvania was the only place in Europe, where so many religions could live together in harmony and without persecution. This religious freedom ended however for some of the religions of Transylvania in 1638. After this year the
Sabbatarians began to be persecuted and forced to convert to one of the accepted Christian religions of Transylvania.
Habsburg rule in Transylvania The Unitarians (despite being one of the "accepted religions") started to be put under an ever-growing pressure, which culminated after the Habsburg conquest of Transylvania (1691), Also after the Habsburg occupation, the new Austrian masters forced in the middle of the 18th century the
Hutterite Anabaptists (who found a safe haven in 1621 in Transylvania, after the persecution to which they were subjected in the Austrian provinces and Moravia) to convert to Catholicism or to migrate in another country, which finally the Anabaptists did, leaving Transylvania and Hungary for Wallachia, then from there to Russia, and finally in the United States.
Netherlands In the
Union of Utrecht of 1579, personal freedom of religion was declared in the struggle between the Northern Netherlands and Spain. The Union of Utrecht was an important step in the establishment of the Dutch Republic (from 1581 to 1795). Under Calvinist leadership, the Netherlands became one of the most tolerant countries in Europe. It granted asylum to persecuted religious minorities, such as the Huguenots, the Dissenters, and the Jews who had been expelled from Spain and Portugal. The establishment of a Jewish community in the Netherlands and New Amsterdam (present-day New York) during the Dutch Republic is an example of religious freedom. When New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English in 1664, freedom of religion was guaranteed in the Articles of Capitulation. It benefitted also the Jews who had landed on Manhattan Island in 1654, fleeing Portuguese persecution in Brazil.
Poland 1573. The beginning of religious freedom in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The General Charter of Jewish Liberties known as the
Statute of Kalisz was issued by the Duke of
Greater Poland Boleslaus the Pious on 8 September 1264 in
Kalisz. The statute served as the basis for the legal position of Jews in Poland and led to the creation of the
Yiddish-speaking autonomous Jewish nation until 1795. The statute granted exclusive jurisdiction of Jewish courts over Jewish matters and established a separate tribunal for matters involving Christians and Jews. Additionally, it guaranteed personal liberties and safety for Jews including freedom of religion, travel, and trade. The statute was ratified by subsequent Polish Kings:
Casimir III of Poland in 1334,
Casimir IV of Poland in 1453 and
Sigismund I of Poland in 1539. Poland freed Jews from direct royal authority, opening up enormous administrative and economic opportunities to them.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The right to worship freely was a basic right given to all inhabitants of the future
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth throughout the 15th and early 16th century, however, complete freedom of religion was officially recognized in 1573 during the Warsaw Confederation. Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth kept religious freedom laws during an era when religious persecution was an everyday occurrence in the rest of Europe.
United States '', a 1867 depiction of
Puritans in the
New England Colonies, by
George Henry Boughton Most of the
New England Colonies in
British Colonial America were generally not tolerant of dissident forms of worship. For example,
Roger Williams found it necessary to found a new colony in
Rhode Island to escape persecution in the theocratically dominated colony of Massachusetts. The
Puritans of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony were the most active of the New England persecutors of
Quakers, and the persecuting spirit was shared by
Plymouth Colony and the colonies along the
Connecticut River. In 1660, one of the most notable victims was an English Quaker
Mary Dyer, who was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony. As one of the four executed Quakers known as the
Boston martyrs, the hanging of Dyer on the Boston gallows marked the beginning of the end of the Puritan
theocracy and New England independence from English rule, and in 1661
King Charles II explicitly forbade Massachusetts from executing anyone for professing Quakerism. Anti-Catholic sentiment appeared in New England with the first
Pilgrim and Puritan settlers. In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting any
Jesuit Roman Catholic priests from entering territory under Puritan jurisdiction. Any suspected person who could not clear himself was to be banished from the colony; a second offense carried a death penalty. The Pilgrims of New England held radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Christmas observance was outlawed in
Boston in 1659. The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became common in the Boston region. which had lifted governor
Peter Stuyvesant's ban on
Quaker worship in New Netherland Freedom of religion was first applied as a principle of government in the founding of the colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic
Lord Baltimore, in 1634. Fifteen years later (1649), the
Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any way troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." The Act allowed freedom of worship for all
Trinitarian Christians in Maryland, but
sentenced to death anyone who denied the
divinity of Jesus. The Maryland Toleration Act was repealed during the Cromwellian Era with the assistance of Protestant assemblymen and a new law barring Catholics from openly practicing their religion was passed. In 1657, the Catholic Lord Baltimore regained control after making a deal with the colony's Protestants, and in 1658 the Act was again passed by the colonial assembly. This time, it would last more than thirty years, until 1692 when, after Maryland's
Protestant Revolution of 1689, freedom of religion was again rescinded. In addition, in 1704, an Act was passed "to prevent the growth of Popery in this Province", preventing Catholics from holding political office. These colonies became sanctuaries for persecuted religious minorities. Catholics and, later on, Jews also had full citizenship and free exercise of their religions. Williams, Hooker, Penn, and their friends were firmly convinced that freedom of conscience was the will of God. Williams gave the most profound argument: As faith is the free work of the
Holy Spirit, it cannot be forced on a person. Therefore, strict
separation of church and state has to be kept. Penn was involved in a case which had a profound effect on future American laws and those of England. In a classic case of
jury nullification, the jury refused to convict Penn of preaching a Quaker sermon, which was illegal. Even though the jury was imprisoned for their acquittal, they stood by their decision and helped establish freedom of religion in the area. Pennsylvania was the only colony that retained unlimited religious freedom until the foundation of the United States in 1776. It was the inseparable connection between democracy, religious freedom, and other forms of freedom which became the political and legal basis of the new nation. In particular,
Baptists and
Presbyterians demanded the disestablishment of state churches
Anglican and
Congregationalist and the protection of religious freedom. '', a statue by
Moses Jacob Ezekiel commissioned for the 1876
Centennial Exposition and dedicated "to the people of the United States" Reiterating Maryland's and the other colonies' earlier colonial legislation, the
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, written in 1779 by
Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed: [N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. Those sentiments also found expression in the
First Amendment of the national constitution, part of the United States'
Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". The acknowledgement of religious freedom as the first right protected in the Bill of Rights points toward the American founders' understanding of the importance of religion to human, social, and political flourishing. The First Amendment makes clear that it sought to protect "the free exercise" of religion, or what might be called "
free exercise equality." The United States formally considers religious freedom in its foreign relations. The
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 established the
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom which investigates the records of over 200 other nations with respect to religious freedom, and makes recommendations to submit nations with egregious records to ongoing scrutiny and possible economic sanctions. Many human rights organizations have urged the United States to be still more vigorous in imposing sanctions on countries that do not permit or tolerate religious freedom.
Canada Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference. Canadian law goes further, requiring that private citizens and companies provide
reasonable accommodation to those, for example, with strong religious beliefs. The
Canadian Human Rights Act allows an exception to reasonable accommodation with respect to religious dress, such as a
Sikh turban, when there is a
bona fide occupational requirement, such as a workplace requiring a
hard hat. In 2017 the
Santo Daime Church Céu do Montréal received religious exemption to use
Ayahuasca as a sacrament in their rituals.
Children's rights The law in Germany includes the concept of "religious maturity" (
Religiöse Mündigkeit) with a minimum age for
minors to follow their own religious beliefs even if their parents don't share those or don't approve. Children 14 and older have the unrestricted right to enter or exit any religious community. Children 12 and older cannot be compelled to change to a different belief. Children 10 and older have to be heard before their parents change their religious upbringing to a different belief. There are similar laws in Austria and in Switzerland.
International The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that: On 25 November 1981, the United Nations General Assembly passed the
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. This declaration recognizes freedom of religion as a fundamental human right in accordance with several other instruments of international law. However, the most substantial binding legal instruments that guarantee the right to freedom of religion that was passed by the international community is the
Convention on the Rights of the Child which states in its Article 14: ''"States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. States Parties shall respect the rights and duties of the parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others."'' There exists a
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. ==Right to change religion==