Varieties of Constitutionalism and Religion: A Comparison of Greece, Israel and Lebanon
摘要
Religion constitutes an essential element of human life for many reasons, forming the substratum of many communities’ political orders. This commixture of the spiritual and secular spheres disappears with the consolidation of the state and the secularisation process that, in the conception of liberal democratic constitutionalism, results in the separation of church and state, as well as the recognition of religious freedoms. Nevertheless, for at least two decades, religion has progressively abandoned the private sphere to assume a prominent role in public life. This is particularly true of legal systems characterized by legal pluralism and the coexistence and competition between state and religious law. Given these premises, the paper aims to examine the relationship between the constitutional order and religion in three legal systems whose history and identity have been characterised by religious pluralism: Greece, Israel and Lebanon. At the constitutional level, these countries affirm the principle of laicity while simultaneously attributing an important institutional role to religion. The aim of this contribution is therefore to analyse how religion shapes constitutionalism in these countries and to explore the varieties of constitutionalism within liberal democratic paradigms exhibiting religious pluralism. Ultimately, it seeks to investigate if the relationship between the state and religion typical of liberal-democratic constitutionalism, is capable of responding to the challenges posed by religious and legal pluralism.