Balancing Communitarianism and Liberalism: European Court of Human Rights’ Jurisprudence on Religious Conflicts

Abstract This article examines the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisprudence on religious conflicts to uncover how it reflects communitarianism and liberalism. Identification of the political moralities behind the Court’s jurisprudence unveils the underlying rationale for the use of its force. To add scientific rigour, qualitative methods were used to uncover the theoretical meanings of the Court’s understanding of the right to freedom of religion or belief. The analysis showed that the Court balanced religious differences, reaching out to both communitarian and liberal reasons, but the Court’s communitarian justifications repeatedly failed to accommodate personal agency. The article reaches a conclusion that expanding the idea of liberal autonomy in the European religious freedom law might help to prevent religious conflicts and radicalization, without compromising peaceful community coexistence.