ABSTRACT
Religion, it seems, is one of those things which, like culture, when we do not think too hard about it we can understand, but when we try to examine and explain it in detail, becomes elusive. Indeed, attempts to define religion in a precise way are difficult if not impossible. However, if we are to provide for freedom of religion and belief then it seems we should have a way of determining what this freedom protects, what limits there might be on the freedom and how freedom of religion interacts with other rights or considerations. This chapter seeks to address these issues both by exposing the tensions and challenges involved as well as by proposing some principles by which the challenges may be addressed. More specifically, the chapter will argue that we must take a broad and pluralistic approach to determining questions of what is a religious belief, centered on the sincere, albeit subjective, convictions of the individual(s) concerned. That said, the manifestations of religious belief might be subject to reasonable, minimal, limits. In this respect, definitional considerations should do two pieces of work: first, of protecting a wide range of beliefs; and second, of raising cautionary flags about restrictions that may apply to manifestation and expression.
