Articles for tag: Gewissensfreiheit, Krankenhausplanung, Krankenhausrecht, Religionsfreiheit, Schwangerschaftsabbruch

Weigerung verweigert

Immer mehr Krankenhäuser sind wegen der Ökonomisierung gezwungen, mit anderen zu fusionieren. So fusioniert sowohl in Flensburg wie in Lippstadt ein evangelisches mit einem katholischen Haus. In beiden Fällen setzten sich die katholischen Träger durch und verankerten in den Gesellschaftsverträgen, dass in dem neuen Krankenhaus keine Schwangerschaftsabbrüche mehr angeboten werden dürfen. Doch gemischt-konfessionelle Krankenhäuser haben kein kollektives religiöses Recht, Schwangerschaftsabbrüche zu verweigern.

6. August 2025

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Laboratories of Authoritarianism

In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the 1st Amendment Free Exercise Clause to grant conservative religious parents a constitutional right to remove their children from any classroom where a teacher includes LGBTQAI+ people in the curriculum. In effect, the Court has allowed public schools to discourage mutual tolerance, parents to opt out of Equal Protection, and fringe legal strategists to continue to use children’s constitutional rights as a test case for authoritarianism. In doing so, the erosion of children’s rights becomes the foundation upon which other rights are eroded.

11. Juli 2025

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Silencing Children’s Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Mahmoud v. Taylor on June 27, 2025. In doing so, it dramatically expanded parental rights over students and education without concern for the rights of children or consideration of pedagogy and curriculum. Instead of addressing the plurality of views around sexual orientation and gender, the Court indirectly, but unsubtly, installs a traditional values framework that imposes norms of heterosexuality, religious fundamentalism and parental micromanagement of curriculum.

10. Juli 2025

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America’s First Religious Public School?

On 24 January 2025, the US Supreme Court granted certiorari to a case that could fundamentally reshape the nature of public education in the United States by permitting public schools – so called charter schools – to become religious in character. However, this blog argues that this case is not merely about school choice or religious freedom, but rather reflects the culmination of “private disestablishment”— a legal phenomenon where entities that operate at the blurred boundary between public and private recast themselves as entirely private actors while performing public functions. By doing so, they secure public benefits—such as funding and regulatory advantages—without bearing the constitutional obligations, such as anti-discrimination mandates or religious neutrality, that typically constrain public institutions. 

5. Februar 2025

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Freedom to Discuss Religion Between Facts and Opinions

In a recent televised discussion in Turkey, two Youtube-influencers have discussed Sharia law and Muhammad’s marriage with Aisha. This has caused strong reactions on social media. Moreover, after a public statement of the Justice Minister, a criminal investigation has been initiated. I argue that such statements should enjoy the full protection of freedom of expression. However, I criticise the distinction between “statements of fact and value judgements” as introduced by the ECtHR in case E.S. v Austria.

25. Juli 2024

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The End of a Dream?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may have officially declared war on the hijab in 2022, but the Hindu right’s battle strategy has been set in place since at least 2014 when the BJP rose to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi. A tenacious master of populism, the BJP has successfully altered the mainstream Hindu perception of the Muslim as a threat to secularism. Within this imaginary, Muslims are believed to constantly seek exemptions from the secular regulations constraining the Hindu community.

23. April 2024

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Religiöse Kleidung ohne Religionsfreiheit?

In Frankreich lodert erneut eine heftige Debatte über Verbote religiöser Kleidung. Ausgangspunkt ist ein Erlass des französischen Bildungsministeriums, der das Tragen von Abaya und Qamis an Schulen verbietet. Bei der Abaya handelt es sich um ein langes Überkleid mit weiten Ärmeln, das von muslimischen Frauen über der normalen Kleidung getragen wird. Der in der öffentlichen Debatte weniger beachtete Qamis ist das Pendant für Männer. Besagtes Kleidungsverbot ist am 07.09.2023 vom Conseil d’État, dem höchsten französischen Verwaltungsgericht, für zulässig erklärt worden.

28. September 2023

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Verschleierte Freiheit der Advokatur

Aus deutscher Perspektive ist es immer wieder erstaunlich, wie weitreichend der französische Gesetzgeber oder die Verwaltung als religiös empfundene Verhaltensweisen im Alltag regulieren. Dies betrifft neben der Ernährung in Kindergärten und Schulen vor allem auch die Kleidung von Privatpersonen. Derart weitreichende Vorschriften und Debatten erscheinen aus deutscher Sicht schwer vorstellbar, trotz auch hier bekannter Diskussionen im Arbeits-, Schul- und Beamten- und Richterdienstrecht. Der vorliegende Beitrag rückt eine Entwicklung im französischen anwaltlichen Berufsrecht in den Fokus und ordnet diese vergleichend deutsch-französisch ein.

14. September 2023

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Sex, God, and Blasphemy

Blasphemy used to be a grave offence once. Now, it is on the decline, making room for freedom of expression. Yet, two judgments of last week show that blasphemy has managed to re-enter the stage through the back door. In this blogpost, I argue that although both cases ended well, i.e. were decided in favour of freedom of expression of artists and activists, both courts erred in their assessment of the role of religion and religious sentiment in European secular democracies.

19. Oktober 2022

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The Cardinal vs. the Theater

On 11 October 2022, the Czech Constitutional Court published its eagerly-awaited judgment resolving the conflict between religious belief and freedom of artistic expression. The case was initiated by a constitutional complaint of the head of the Czech Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Dominik Duka. The complainants alleged that a theater‘s allegorical plays which mocked the catholic church and their belief were blasphemous and violated their constitutional rights, in particular a freedom of religion.

13. Oktober 2022

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