Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the right not to profess any religion or belief or "not to practise a religion" (often referred to as "freedom from religion").

Freedom of religion is considered by many people and most nations to be a fundamental human right. Freedom of religion is protected in all the most important international human rights conventions, such as the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other communities besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths or those who have no faith; in other countries, freedom of religion includes the right to refuse to support, by taxes or otherwise, a state religion.

Freedom of religion includes and may go beyond freedom of belief (this freedom is usually limited to the right to believe whatever a person, group, or religion wishes). Rather, freedom of religion includes, freedom of practice, the right to practice the religion or belief openly and outwardly in a public manner, which some believe is a central facet of religious freedom. A third term, freedom of worship is of uncertain definition and may be considered to fall between the two terms. The term "belief" is considered inclusive of all forms of irreligion, including atheism, humanism, existentialism or other schools of thought. Whether non-believers or humanists should be considered for the purposes of freedom of religion is a contested question in legal and constitutional contexts. Crucial in the consideration of this liberty is the question of whether religious practices and motivated actions which would otherwise violate secular law should be permitted due to the safeguarding freedom of religion, considered in e.g., (in American jurisprudence) Reynolds v. United States or Wisconsin v. Yoder, (in European law) S.A.S. v. France, and numerous other jurisdictions.