Are Catholic Majorities More Hospitable to Religious Minorities than Others?

But there are no countries with high or very high legal restrictions and very few countries with high social hostilities that have a Catholic majority or supermajority. This provides a powerful invitation for those of us who live in countries with high restrictions to reflect upon the role that the dominant religious groups may have in perpetuating those restrictions, and the potential role that those dominant religious group may have in overcoming those patterns of restriction and hostility. Among the most important resources for promoting religious freedom will be religious reasons and doctrines found within religious traditions. Freedom of thought, conscience, and belief is most likely to be promoted when dominant religious groups find within their own religious traditions the resources and arguments in defense of freedom, conscience, and human dignity. Many religious traditions, including Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu, can look to the experience of the Catholic Church for insight and inspiration.

Speaker
Brett G. Scharffs, Brigham Young University – J. Reuben Clark Law School
Discussants
Paolo Costa, FBK-ISR
Roberto Toniatti, Faculty of Law, University of Trento
Cinzia Piciocchi, Faculty of Law, University of Trento
Andrea Pin, Faculty of Law, University of Padova