A/HRC/34/50/Add.1
Scientology work alongside teachers from outside of the Church. These schools use
teaching methods developed by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. Although
Scientologists complained about what they consider to be unfair media coverage, including
by public broadcasting corporations, they pointed out that they generally operate freely in
Denmark.
5.
Humanist Association
42.
Whereas neighbouring Norway reportedly hosts the highest percentage of organized
humanists worldwide, the Humanist Association in Denmark, established in 2008, has only
a few hundred members. Obviously, the humanists do not consider themselves a religious
community. Although certainly not all of them are atheists, and some have their own
separate organizations, the humanists generally promote worldviews, ethics and norms
without reference to God. At the same time, they practise rituals and ceremonies in analogy
to religious communities, including initiation rites, “humanist confirmation” (a term
apparently borrowed from Protestantism), marriages and funerals. Furthermore, they also
promote freedom of religion or belief for non-religious persons, especially in the field of
school education.
43.
Since 2010, the Danish Humanist Society has established a dialogue with the
Government in order to make it possible for a group as themselves, which shares a life
stance but lacks a belief in a transcendent power (“gudsdyrkelse”), to apply for the status
necessary to conduct marriage ceremonies.
44.
By rendering the acknowledgment of a religious community dependent on faith in a
transcendent power, the Danish law deviates from European and international human rights
law. Both the European Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Committee, which
monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, have
developed jurisprudence that understands freedom of religion or belief more broadly.
According to the Human Rights Committee, article 18 of the Covenant protects “theistic,
non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief”. 1
In other words, freedom of religion or belief covers the whole range of identity-shaping
convictions and conviction-based practices, including beyond traditional forms of
monotheistic faith and worship. For article 67 of the Constitution to remain in line with the
development of freedom of religion or belief in European and international human rights
law, it should be interpreted in a broad and inclusive way. The future treatment of the
humanists may in this context assume the quality of a test case.
V. Challenges arising in the context of immigration and asylum
45.
The Special Rapporteur often heard that the Danish people did not much care about
religious issues generally. However, public attention could rise swiftly whenever religion
comes up in the context of immigration, which has changed the Danish religious landscape
profoundly by confronting a traditionally very homogeneous society with new religious
communities, in particular Islam. Thus, religion has become visible and tangible in ways
that differ greatly from the prevailing Lutheran focus on faith as chiefly concerning the
person’s inner disposition. These far-reaching changes have occurred within just a few
decades and are continuing, which understandably may cause feelings of anxiety and
unease.
1
12
See Human Rights Committee general comment No. 22 (1993) on the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion.