ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the evolution of the right to establish and maintain places of worship from its earliest appearance in human rights instruments up to its current stature as a distinct human right. It draws on primarily from the work of the institutions responsible for international human rights standard-setting, particularly with respect to the right to freedom of religion or belief. The chapter concludes that the right to establish and maintain places of worship, being an integral part of the broader right to freedom of religion or belief, has its own set of constituent elements that collectively makes up the right's normative content. Among the governmental actions that undermine a religious group's right to establish new places of worship, one of the most direct and immediate violations is the prohibition against owning or possessing real property for the purpose of building new places of worship other than those of the state-sponsored or dominant religion.
