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The Nordic Churches and the Ecumenical Movement
Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2000 by Peter Lodberg
Religious freedom has taken on new importance in Europe since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. In the aftermath of this peaceful revolution, new nation-states are under construction in the formerly communist countries, and new constitutions have been put into place in such countries as Russia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Albania, laying the foundations for open and modern democratic societies. In this process of nation-building the right to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion" has proved to be one of the bases of a democratic society, because it protects the individual citizen from discrimination by the state and safeguards the principle of pluralism, which is indissociable from democracy. Freedom of religion is thus an absolute right, not subject to any limitation by the state. But because religious activity manifests itself in public life, religious practice can under certain circumstances be subjected to limitations by the state. Hence, the necessary distinction made in the laws of Western countries and in international human rights conventions between the absolute freedom of religious thinking or ideas and the relative freedom of religious manifestations.
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One problem arising in the present European debate on religious freedom is to define what religion is and to decide on the principles for official recognition of a religious community. While there is no generally accepted definition of the concept of religion in either the scientific literature on religion or human rights conventions, Ole Espersen, commissioner of the Council of the Baltic Sea States on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, notes that the concept has been clarified through interpretation by international human-rights bodies.(4) Thus, Elizabeth Odio Benito, the UN special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, pointed out in a 1989 study that religion can be described as "an explanation of the meaning of life and how to live accordingly". This very broad description protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief.
I shall use this broad concept in the following analysis of how the present European discussion on religious freedom plays out in a Danish context: how the international discussion takes colour and shape according to specifically Danish religious, political and legal ideas and practices, and how the international dimension illustrates that the Danish debate is part and parcel of a much wider discussion on religious freedom in Europe.
Freedom of religion in Denmark is closely related to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, because according to the 1849 Danish constitution, amended in 1953, "the Evangelical-Lutheran Church is the established church of Denmark and as such it shall be supported by the state" (art. 4). In order to understand this unique role of one particular confessional church for the regulation of freedom of religion in Denmark, it is necessary to look at some history.
A brief historical outline
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