CHAPTER 1 Malcolm Evans, Historical Analysis of Freedom of Religion or Belief as a Technique for Resolving Religious Conflict
The historical overview provided in the opening chapter by Malcom Evans helps to place all the other chapters in the book in historical perspective. The timescale considered in his chapter stretches from the Roman Empire to the present. But the real focus is on identifying different major phases in the international law of freedom of religion or belief. Evans shows that concern by political authorities for religious freedom is much older than the modern state system. For the most part, religious freedom has not been promoted as an end in itself, but as a technique for preserving stability, limiting conflict, or as a pretext for intervention. Throughout most of history, granting religious freedom has been used as means of avaoiding conflict, whereas limiting its enjoyment has been a source of conflict. In general, there has been a shift away from the practice of attempting to ensure civil harmony by keeping people of different religiouns apart towards provdidng a common institutional freamework for faclilitating peaceful coexistence. This is most evident in the modern regime of internationally codifeid universal human rights.
After tracing some of the failures of premodern experience, such as the role reversal that transformed Christianity from a victim of persecution into a source of state intolerance, Evans identifies three major configurations in the modern evolution of freedom of religion: (1) the "cuius regio, eius religio" in which the prince determined the religion of his people; (2) the minority protection model in which international treaties provided protection for religious minoritites; and (3) the contemporary human rights model. Eacho of these fundamental approaches to religious freedom is protrayed in significant detail/p>
Somewhat surprisingly, in light of the fact that the historical progression associated with the historical succession of the three approaches is toward strenghthening of individual religous freedom protections, Evans argues that the past fifty years have witnessed a diminution of the political importance attached to achieving freedom of religion or belief. His point is that in contrast to the early days during and immediately after World War II, when the foundational role of freedom of religion was clearly recognized, freedom of religion or belief tends now to be seen simply as one of many protections tucked away in the panoply of human rights. Moreover, its strength is further weakened by the fact that its protections are balanced against a welter of other social values. The claim that religious freedom values are eroding is surely a controversial point, and no doubt intended as such, but it is the kind of question that historical perspective entitles an author to ask. Has the right to freedom of religion or belief been subject to steady attrition, or to overshadowing as other rights have been built up? Has there been a "relativizing" political approach to religion? Are these trends a reflection of secularization and of shifting perceptions of the role of religion in society that could be reversed as religion becomes more salient? What do the long-term trends mean for the ability of freedom of religion or belief to meet the challenges of an increasingly pluralized world?
