Religious coercion

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Religious coercion it is the practice of imposing a religious norm on a whole public or on its parts, while violating the peoples' freedom of religion or freedom from religion.

Blue laws

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping. Most have been repealed, have been declared unconstitutional, or are simply unenforced; though prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages or prohibitions of almost all commerce on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience.

Religious coercion in Israel

Because the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox in Israel have a monopoly^[1][2] over the religious authority of the entire Jewish population in the country, thus all Jewish Israelis (both secular, semi-secular and religious Jews of the Jewish ethnicity) are obligated to marry, divorce and convert, in accordance to the strict ultra-orthodox traditions and by Ultra-Orthodox rabbis (the conservative and reformist rabbis are not allowed to conduct religious ceremonies in the country). In addition, due to the political power of the ultra-Orthodox minority^{[citation needed]}, the entire Israeli public, including the secular, semi-religious, and non-Jewish populations, are committed to follow several Jewish Ultra-Orthodox norms regarding the observance of Sabbath on Saturdays within the cites, towns and villages in the country which have a Jewish majority - this means that all public transport in these areas (the major towns and cities in the country) are disabled on Saturdays, and most businesses are closed, although this is the country's only day of rest and although the majority of the country's population is actually secular or semi-secular.^{[citation needed]}

Religious coercion as a religious decree

This section requires expansion.

Many religions are not satisfied with imposing the religion decrees only on its members who believe in it, but also have obligations directed towards people whom belong to the same religion but do not observe all or any of the religious decrees, as well obligations directed towards people of other religions. Examples:

• According to Judaism, gentiles are also obligated to commit the Seven Laws of Noah.^{[citation needed]}

Characteristics of religious coercion

In a democracy, legislation is made by the House of Representatives or by body authorized to do so. Legislation based on the norms of a religion is no different, in the process of its acceptance, from any other legislation, and in this sense it is no more coercive than any legislation whose origins are not religious. Viewing the legislation as religious coercion stems from the impact on the freedom of religion of freedom from religion.

See also

Religion portal

References

Further reading

• McCullough, Roy L. (2007). Coercion, conversion and counterinsurgency in Louis XIV's France. Leiden; Boston: Brill. pp. 125–180 (Chapter 4: 'Les Missions Bottés': Religious Coercion under Louis XIV). ISBN 978-90-04-15661-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=pfCQr8WGQ0kC&pg=PA125&dq=religious+coercion&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CaoZT4zJG8msiQLohPm1CA&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=religious%20coercion&f=false. 

External links

• Israelis protest against religious coercion – posted on the Associated Press on December 27, 2011