The E. U. has some new guidelines, interesting !

by Phizzy 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  Phizzy

  "

  BHA welcomes new EU Guidelines on Freedom of Religion and Belief

  June 25th, 2013

  The EU has adopted new guidelines on religion and belief which protect the rights of atheists and the non-religious, including the right to criticise religious beliefs. The British Humanist Association (BHA) and the European Humanist Federation (EHF) have welcomed the new guidelines.

  The new guidelines, adopted by the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the EU, aim to help the EU to promote freedom of religion and belief in countries outside the EU, and to take action on violations of this right. They protect the non-religious as well as the religious. They also protect the right to change or abandon one's belief, and the right to freedom of expression, including the right to criticise or mock religion or belief. The guidelines therefore commit to protect individuals, and individuals' right to hold beliefs, but not the beliefs themselves. This implies that the EU will recommend the decriminalization of blasphemy offences in non-EU countries.

  The guidelines also oppose religious justifications for restrictions on other fundamental rights, as well as opposing violence against women, children, members of religious minorities, and violence directed towards people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The guidelines also restrict conscientious objection to military service, and do not accept religious demands for conscientious objection in areas such as abortion and contraception.

  However, it is regrettable that the EU has not recommended these guidelines for its own member states, as some EU countries still have blasphemy laws in place, and 'religious insult' is still an offence in a large number of EU member states. The BHA and EHF are calling on the EU to encourage its member states to abolish blasphemy laws. "

  The more nations, both inside and outside of the E.U that adopt these suggestions in to Law the better !

  "The guidelines also oppose religious justifications for restrictions on other fundamental rights, " a fundamental right in E.U Law is the Right to Family life, surely this guideline opposes the shunning employed by the WT/JW's ?
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  *lost*

  excellent

  perhaps now countries can deal with Islam
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  punkofnice

  It'd be nice if this could work but I sense that it's a bit of a paper tiger.
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  cedars

  However, it is regrettable that the EU has not recommended these guidelines for its own member states

  So they're applying these guidelines to non-EU countries but not to member states? What's the justification for that, I wonder?

  Cedars
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  cantleave

  However, it is regrettable that the EU has not recommended these guidelines for its own member states, as some EU countries still have blasphemy laws in place, and 'religious insult' is still an offence in a large number of EU member states. The BHA and EHF are calling on the EU to encourage its member states to abolish blasphemy laws.

  WTF??????
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  Phizzy

  It does seem a bit of a strange stance, to ask non-member States to have higher standards than member States, the only good thing about it is that in the future it may spur on prospective members to do something about their legislation.

  But why it does not call on member States to do so seems weird, and a little cowardly.
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  BobFlanagan007

  I think you people are not understanding the story.

  The fact is that fundamental rights such as the opposing violence against women, children, members of religious minorities, and violence directed at people because of sexual orientation or gender identity, not to mention conscientious objection to military service and do not accept religious demands for conscientious objection in areas such as abortion and contraception are already covered by laws in individual states and also European Human Rights Legislationand as such matters were outside the boards remit of the council.

  The part of the recommendations that they want to apply to all European States is the abolition of all blasphemy and religious insult laws in the member states that still have them. Until a Europe wide ruling on this matter is made these states can not be forced to remove such legislation from their books, even if said legislation has not been used in a criminal court for many decades, for example no one had faced criminal prosecution for blasphemy in the United Kingdom since 1921 but the law was not repealed until 2008.
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  jwfacts

  That is fantastic. I am sick of atrocities being done in the guise of "freedom of religion." There is no reason why a religious leader should be able to force their followers to break the law on claims that their God says it should be so. I wonder how much affect this will have on religious incited racism, sexism and bigotry.