CHAPTER 15 W. Cole Durham, Jr., Laws and Regulations on the Creation and Registration of Religious Associations as These Affect Freedom of Communities of Religion or Belief
Cole Durham’s chapter on Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief through Religious Association Laws contains an extensive analysis of the bearing of human rights norms on laws that govern the process of acquiring legal entity status. Because these laws are such a routine feature of the legal landscape of most countries, their significance from a human rights standpoint is often overlooked. But in fact, this turns out to be one of the most significant areas for facilitating freedom of religion or belief, both because difficulties at the stage of acquiring entity status through incorporation or registration can have such profound impact on the ability to exercise religious beliefs, and because this is an area in which reform is relatively easy.
One of the difficulties in this area is that while virtually all states have laws governing acquisition of legal entity status, these laws can be applied in very different ways. Countries with strong human rights records characteristically view such laws primarily as vehicles for facilitating religious freedom. The laws provide readily accessible legal forms that religious communities can use to structure their own affairs. In other countries,however, a “control” mentality continues to lead to restrictive applications of religious association laws. The contrast of “facilitation” and “control” orientations is a thread running through the entire chapter.
The chapter provides a comparative overview of the types of legal entities available within and across legal systems.69 It then turns to an analysis of the implications of key international human rights norms for various features of religious association laws.70 In effect, the chapter shows how analysis from many of the other chapters in the book is relevant to recurrent problems that emerge in the formulation and application of the basic laws governing the creation of legal entities for religious communities. The main focus in this area is on the requirements of substantive religious freedom norms.71 However, particularly in light of the emerging recognition that freedom of association entails a right to acquire legal entity status, attention is paid to the implications of freedom of association for religious association law.72 The relevance of several other human rights norms, including nondiscrimination, freedom from arbitrary decision making, and the right to effective remedies, is also noted.73 The chapter then identifies a number of recurrent practical problems that arise in connection with religious association laws and need to be avoided.74 In the overall design of the deskbook, this chapter is intended to provide a comprehensive guide to analyzing the practical problems that arise when religious association laws are being adopted or revised.
69 Durham, chapter 15, 337–47.
70 Ibid., 347–84.
71 Ibid., 350–66.
72 Ibid., 366–77.
73 Ibid., 378–84.
74 Ibid., 384–400.
