Simboli religiosi e libertà religiosa. Profili costituzionali

Abstract

The essay analyzes some aspects of the freedom of religion enshrined in the Italian Constitution in relation to the principle of secularism as supreme principle of the Italian Republic, according to the definition of the italian Constitutional Court; and the extension of religious symbols and, in particular, the crucifix. First of all, the essay analyzes the question of «Italian» secularism, verifying the disparities and similarities among the various declinations of this principle, reconstructing the debate in the constituent assembly and the main jurisprudential approaches of the Italian Constitutional Court in this matter. Secondly, the essay analyzes the issue of religious symbols in public spaces and, in particular, a leading case concerning the exhibition of the crucifix in the classrooms, both at the jurisprudence level (Administrative Judge, Constitutional Court, EDU Court), and at doctrinal one. The essay, then, notes the cd. Bavarian solution, adopted by the Government of the homonymous German region, in search of a reconciliation between the religious freedom of each person and the quantitative factor per single religion. There is also an excursus on the main case law of the European Court of Human Rights about secularity, religious freedom and religious symbols.