Topic primer

The right to freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human right protected by international, regional, and domestic law provisions. It is a human right that goes beyond recognising human beings as political and economic entities. Indeed, religion and belief set up moral foundations for our everyday lives and prescribe certain behaviours. Religion further affirms that there is a higher authority than the Government and so sets up moral limitations to its work.

Religious liberty is beneficial for all communities. Indeed, the public service and contribution of religious groups to their communities has been remarkable for many years. Nonetheless, the place for religion and the manifestation of religious belief in the public square is increasingly circumscribed and in a way that is causing increasing concern. This has an adverse effect not only on those who wish to enjoy their religious liberty, but also those who benefit from services provided by religious groups (predominately on a voluntary basis). Hence, the right to freedom of religion or belief must be protected not only because it is a fundamental human right, but also because of the positive impact of the right to freedom of religion or belief on communities.

There are nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. These include; age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. In theory all the protected characteristics should be treated as equally important and all rights protected, but in practice these different rights often push in diametrically opposing directions. This is particularly problematic if one protected characteristic repeatedly clashes with and quashes another protected characteristic.

Religious opinion is becoming more marginalised in the public sphere and there are stronger pressures to conform. These pressures stem primarily from equality laws, measures to address extremism, and hate crime laws. The pressures are twofold: firstly, on employees to facilitate in the course of employment that which is contrary to faith. Secondly, there are also pressures on service providers to facilitate activity which is contrary to faith in service provision.

Christian freedom, we believe, is not merely liberty to believe what we wish, but also liberty to live our lives according to our faith, meet with other Christians and share the good news. When religious freedom is threatened it becomes more challenging for Christians to do these things. CARE continues to fight for everyone, regardless of faith, to enjoy religious liberty in our nation, and we continue to advocate for the right to freedom of speech for all – an essential foundation of any free and democratic society.