ABSTRACT
In recent years the growing cultural diversity of European societies has increased the necessity of acknowledging the importance of religious pluralism. While Europe appears to be a mosaic of diverse traditions of respecting freedom of religion (Evans and Thomas, 2006; Katzenstein 2006; Gozdecka 2009; Doe 2011), the need to accommodate minority religions and non-religions has recently become more apparent in the majority of European societies (Banchoff, 2007; Bader, 2007; Vertovec, 2007; Grillo et al., 2009). In recent years, adherents of minority religions and non-religions have increasingly phrased their claims in the language of human rights (Loenen and Goldschmidt, 2007). Consequently, both European Union (EU) law and regional international human rights law have become affected by these claims (McGoldrick, 2006; Vickers, 2008). The need for greater recognition has prompted the emergence of a principle of religious pluralism in supranational and international European human rights regimes. Paradoxically, even though this principle has become very prominent, it has encountered multiple legal challenges and has frequently been used to curtail rather than foster religious diversity.
