ABSTRACT
Constitutionalism certainly qualifies as an 'essentially contested concept' and is thus difficult to define. Former judge of the German federal court Dieter Grimm provides the following functional definition of the concept in a leading handbook of comparative constitutional law. This chapter argues that the extent to which protection by the right to religion or belief is (im)possible relies on the nature of constitutionalism, which in turn is dependent on the type of liberalism which prevails in a particular society at a particular point in time. All three, liberalism, constitutionalism, and religious freedom, are thoroughly interconnected. McConnell has also elaborated upon the similarities between some of the core doctrines of liberalism and particular Christian theological principles, notably between the rejection of utopianism and the doctrine of original sin, and between the notion of limited government and the idea of a separation of church and state.
