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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Lautsi v. Italy

This important case can be found here on the portal for the European Court of Human Rights. The point is that the court at the highest level found that it was acceptable for Italy to have crucifixes on prominent display in its public schools. This appeal overturned the court's earlier decision in 2009.

I've got to say that I'm not surprised by this. I'm not happy with it, but I'm not surprised. After all, Europe is a continent bristling with established churches, and it's long been clear that their continued existence would not be threatened by the European Convention on Human Rights. The provision for freedom of religion has been interpreted in some odd ways in previous case law, but it never seems to have much in the way of teeth when it comes to preventing government endorsements and establishments.

3 comments:

Jason Streitfeld said...

You mean you're not happy with it, right?

Eamon Knight said...

Did you mean not happy?

Russell Blackford said...

Oops, I'll correct it sub silentio. Yes, I left out the "not".