Before the European Parliament elections, the Twelve Stars Initiative and we publish a collection of essays entitled "Twelve Stars: Philosophers chart a new course for Europe". In the first weeks of the year, we will release four of the essays here in advance. In the third one, Rainer Forst argues that the EU should not tolerate member states restricting the richt to religious freedom without proper reasons to do so.
For the European elections at the end of May, most commentators expect a wave of populism from right and left. It is widely believed that the whole European Union will pour itself into the Brussels and Strasbourg Parliament like a political tsunami. As French President Emmanuel Macron most recently wrote in his widely commented call “For European renewal”, or “Pour une Renaissance européenne” in 28 newspapers in all EU member states: “Never, since the Second World War, has Europe been as essential. Yet never has Europe been in so much danger. “
We at the program "Europe's future" at the Bertelsmann Stiftung do not simply want to sit still and stare at the snake like a rabbit. Together with the Twelve Stars Initiative, we have asked clever minds all over Europe: Please, write down what idea could make enlighten the gloomy conditions of the EU! Freethinkers ahead for a better Europe that was the motto.
Today we bring here an essay by Rainer Forst, Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt/Main.
Rainer calls for the EU to better protect religious freedom and therefore ensure that its states are religiously neutral institutions. "Thus laws (such as in Bavaria or in Italy) ordering Christian symbols to be placed in public buildings are as impermissible as are laws banning certain forms of religious dresses.”
Enjoy further reading by downloading Rainer’s essay here.
