The ethics of establishment: fairness and human rights as different standards of neutrality

Is any degree of religious establishment compatible with human rights? A number of theorists have recently claimed that respect for human rights or basic rights, rather than complete church and state separation, can serve as a sufficient threshold for justified state action.1 Yet the truth of that claim requires that some degree of establishment is compatible with respect for those rights. One way to argue respect for human rights and establishment are not compatible is to argue that human rights necessarily require state neutrality. This, indeed, has formed the basis of recent criticism of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights that allow states some discretion on matters of state-church relations.2 Those who wish to be more permissive about establishment would need, then, an argument for compatibility.