"Given the link between Islam and terrorism found in discourses in the public sphere, Muslims move away from this space when it comes to expressing their beliefs," Lasse Thomassen, who is a researcher at Queen Mary University, explained at the University of Navarra. The expert gave a seminar on religious freedom in the European Court of Human Rights within the Religion and Civil Society project of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS).

Within the framework of Human Rights Day, which is celebrated on December 10, he recalled that one of the fundamental rights of all people is religious freedom, as set forth in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

He explained that said text is divided into two parts: the first affirms absolute freedom, while the second stipulates the bases for limiting that freedom "on the grounds of public order and concern for the rights and freedoms of others," he detailed.

Thomassen added that this right is possibly at risk due to the terrorist attacks of recent years: "This is mainly due to the associations that are often established between Islam, political Islam, and extremist forms of Islam and terrorism; these are contingent links, but they are often presented as necessary or natural.”

This association of concepts is, in his opinion, dangerous: "States try to restrict threats of terrorism and monitor Muslims and, in the process, limit their freedom to be Muslims."

Prohibition of ostentatious religious symbols

Another current debate around religious freedom focuses on the banning of ostentatious religious symbols in French public schools: "This has led to the restriction of Muslim children’s rights. In fact, some of these cases have reached the European Court of Human Rights."

As Thomassen noted, another key question is "if it is better for freedom that religions are equally excluded from public spheres, or that all are included equally in that space."

He considers that the former option, which the French have adopted, affects religions differently because "each one conceives of the relationship between belief and practice in a different way, that is, between private and public, between religion and the state." On the other hand, the latter option, which the British adopted, he warns of the risk that, "a dominant and majority religion is established as a norm."

Regarding the place of religious freedom, Thomassen commented that today there is a religious revival: "On the one hand, society is increasingly secularized, fewer and fewer people identify themselves as religious. But on the other, there is a lot of talk about religion; it is very present in public spaces, especially in the media."