The Place of Religion in Public Space

My aim in this Paper is to examine the place of religion in public space. I shall ask if, and, if so, then to what extent, individuals and groups may reasonably expect to be able to manifest their religious identities in such space. Whilst there is an ongoing debate in political theory about the role of religious reasons in the public sphere, this is quite distinct from my concern with the physical presence, appearance and behaviour of people in the built environment of their societies. In order to answer my question I have set myself, I shall begin by focussing on some recent decisions by the European Court of Human Rights which concern Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights including SAS v. France (2014) and Arslan v. Turkey (2010). By comparing and contrasting these cases, I shall argue that the Court does not have a clear and consistent position on the extent to which this Article protects the public manifestation of religious belief. After this, I shall examine the character of public space more closely, suggesting that it bears some comparison with what economists call public goods. My claim will be that it is only by understanding what public space is like that it becomes possible to draw any clear conclusions about the nature and extent of the rights which individuals should have to access and make use of that space. Finally, I shall outline what I shall call a scheme of regulation which comprises a number of criteria which need to be applied in combination in order to determine whether or not particular restrictions on individuals' behaviour in public space may be justified.