A Research On Freedom Of Religion

As an important right that is appreciated and experienced by citizens to achieve their spiritual independence, self-realization and self-development, freedom of religion has ascended from originally a natural right to a constitutional right and been written into the constitution by most constitutional nations and become an important human right, which citizens were born to appreciate and experience. However, because of the unbalanced development of political systems and legal systems among nations, the development of religious freedom in various countries shows great difference. In legal field, what is the existing basis for religious freedom as natural right and constitutional right? How to guarantee it? In contemporary China, what are the major problems of guaranteeing religious freedom rights and how to find a way out in the predicament. All the above-mentioned questions are unavoidable significant subjects in research field of human rights for legal scholars at home. They are also what this dissertation focuses on.This dissertation can be divided into two parts: the introduction and the text. In the introduction, firstly, to summarize information on research background and research significance, the author has made a survey on the great significance and far-reaching impact of religion development in the Orient and the Occident and traced the tortuous path in the issue of guarantee for citizens' religious freedom since the founding of New China and various social problems triggered by religious belief, and has revealed the religious belief research's great importance for the development process of rule by law and human rights in contemporary China. Then the article turns to making comments on the current state of research at home and abroad. Finally, a brief introduction is made on the research methods to be employed here and the basic structure of the dissertation.The text contains 4 chapters, of which the 1^st chapter is about the concept of religious freedom. In this chapter, the author expounds on the concept of religious freedom from such two angles as its connotation and denotation. The exposition about the connotation starts from the definition of religion , the concept and the nature of religious freedom rights and at last arrives at a rational interpretation of the connotation of religious freedom rights; In the denotation part, the subject and way for the implementation of religious freedom are taken as the angles to discuss the denotation of religious freedom. In a word, the main composition task of this chapter is to theoretically touch upon concepts related to religious freedom so as to distinctly present its main direction and lay foundation for the organization of the following parts in dissertation.Chapter 2 is about the basis of religious freedom. In this chapter, firstly, the author makes endeavors to demonstrate the foundational problem that religious freedom exists respectively as a natural right and a constitutional right and then summarizes the history of religious freedom evolving from a natural right to a constitutional right, which is viewed as a demonstration for the fundamental theory on the existence of religious freedom. The author states that the foundation for human rights and the features of freedom are the universal and special characterization of the existing basis of the religious freedom as a natural right; then he proceeds to demonstrate the validity of the basis for religious freedom as a constitutional right from the three aspects of the basis of human nature, the foundation of Science of Religion and culture; at last, the chapter is concluded by a detailed summary of the evolution history of religious freedom, by which it is to be demonstrated the dominant role has played in the evolution of religious freedom as the foundation of a natural right and a constitutional right.Chapter 3 is the legal guarantee for religious freedom, the emphasis of the dissertation. It is a vital part for realizing the religious freedom how to legally guarantee the transition of religious freedom from a natural right to a constitutional right. First, the author analyses those factors which affect the guarantee of religious freedom respectively in political law, economical and cultural visual angles and makes a clear statement that the guarantee of religious freedom are linked with multiple factors and the realization of religious freedom is politically, economically and culturally affected by different development pathways due to different national situations to different extents, which as objective reality, requires us to be wary of over-theorization or over-idealization in the guarantee of religious freedom and the thought of instant realization. Then, considering the great significance of legal guarantee to the realization of religious freedom, the author, taking the normative writing for constitution and institutional construction as two ways of analyzing, expound on the modes of legal guarantee of religious freedom in two aspects of normative and institutional guarantee of constitution. The reason for doing so is because of the author's belief in the pivotal position and role, which constitution has in the legal system. In other word, choosing the constitution as the beginning of the exposition can provide a general review of general stipulations on religious freedom of most countries in short time and meanwhile, avoid the numerous and jumbled general provisions which probably surpasses the author's power. Finally, religious freedom, as one of freedom rights, can only be maximized within the range permitted by law. Therefore, it is another effective approach for the guarantee of religious freedom to put legal restrictions on religious freedom.Chapter 4 is the tentative plans to guarantee religious freedom in contemporary China. It is a difficulty because, for one thing, under matter-of-fact principle, it is expected to present a rational analysis and objective exposition about the current state and predicament of the guarantee of religious freedom in China at present whereas unnecessary misunderstanding and troubles should be avoided caused by sensitiveness of religion or excessive frankness or extreme of theoretical analysis. The author strives to keep a balance in the two of the above aspects. For another, it poses a challenge to the author's writing ability and academic level to put forward reasonable strategies on problems existing at the governmental-religious relationship, religious legislation and religious groups, which accord with the national reality and is also in favor of guaranteeing the rights of the citizens and to produce reasonable tentative plans for guaranteeing the religious freedom in contemporary China. Surely, the author is fond of such challenge and believes that academic participation and contribution of this kind in related aspects of the current Chinese guaranteeing system of religious freedom is where the obligation of Chinese intellectuals and the major value of this dissertation lie.In terms of academic value and innovation of the dissertation, the author personally thinks that its contribution could be made in the following aspects: first, judging from the research direction and main purpose, it is the first doctoral dissertation carrying out systematic and profound theoretical research on religious freedom problem in the field of human rights between Chinese scholars. Prior to this, Zhou Jing used to produce a doctoral dissertation named On the Normative Structure of Freedom of Religion: In the Background of UN's and China's Related Documents, in which, however, normative analysis method is adopted for the research of comparative law comparison method. It is different from my research approaches and perspectives. As a matter of fact, because of the reasons known to all, all domestic theoretical research relating to religion has a character of sensitiveness. Thus, there has always been a lack of a systematic research on religious freedom, an important issue of human rights. Although in recent years many scholars have published their dissertations on issues of certain aspects in this field, a strongly theoretical and systematic research has yet to be awaited. Through the analysis of this research background and reality, we can infer that, in term of the research direction and main purpose alone, the article, displaying kind of initiative, can be regarded as a theoretical research carried out to fill the gap in the research of religious freedom in China's legal field and has a relatively positive academic value. Second, judging from the content of the dissertation, the author strives to make breakthrough and innovation on the basis of research of the predecessors, which is more specifically manifested in the segment about the demonstration of foundation of religious freedom in the first chapter and the segment of analysis on affecting factors of religious freedom guarantee from the political, legal, economic and cultural perspectives in the 1^st session of the 3^rd chapter. Third, as a monograph on theoretical research of religious freedom, it is inevitable to pay attention to problems of various kinds in the aspect of guaranteeing the religious freedom and human rights in China. Although research on this part may finally prove to be a thankless job, it is required by the conscience and social responsibility. Hence, in the last chapter, the author makes a detailed exposition of the tentative plans for the religious freedom of China. It is personally thought that it might add a positive momentum to the theoretical research on human rights guarantee in field of domestic religious freedom. This is where the major significance of the dissertation lies.