Introduction

Freedom of religion is a seeming contradiction in terms. Freedom is the absence of constraint; religion is a self-imposed constraint on freedom. Freedom of religion is thus a unique human right. Religion is an all-encompassing normative system, providing a complete value system for all aspects of life. Therefore, it poses an authority alternative to that of the state. In this, religious freedom is different from other human rights. Other human rights, such as free speech or privacy, are not associated with an alternative normative system. There is simply no such thing as a normative system of speech or of privacy. The construction of the right of freedom of religion must therefore deal with elements of constraint as well as freedom, and so the interpretation and protection of religious freedom as a human right is more complicated than that of other rights.