The panel aims to investigate the role of religion in the relation to citizenship and the interconnection between citizenship and religion in contemporary Western societies from two perspectives. First of all the role of identity and belonging, since one of the main features of both citizenship and religion is that the two bind individuals together into communities, that in one case is political and in the other is religious. Therefore, the aim is to analyse how these two expressions of membership, and their framework of rights and duties, relate to each other, overlap and eventually conflict. Secondly, nowadays this relationship appears to be under pressure in Western societies that are characterized by a growing presence of religious pluralism, taking into account that contemporary societies are concerned about the presence of religions that bring sets of values, practices, and symbols that are considered different from traditional religions. How this relationship will evolve?
Chair: • Francesca Raimondo (Alma Mater-Università di Bologna)
Panelists: • Andrea Hrebickova (Law faculty, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic) - Freedom of religious expression and the security checks in decisions of the European Court of Human Rights • Kyriaki Topidi (European Centre for Minority Issues) - From Tradition to Modernity and back: Religious Diversity in English Schools as a Test-Case for Multicultural Societies • Dorjana Bojanovska Popovska (Central European University, Budapest) - Religion and citizenship in modern liberal democracies: Why religion should or should not matter? Interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights • Francesca Raimondo (Alma Mater-Università di Bologna) - Faith, identity and citizenship: Ishaq and beyond
