Humanistisk Samfund
Tranevej 20
2400 København NV
Om menneskerettigheder og manglende ligestilling af livssyns- og
trossamfund
Igennem en længere årrække har det udviklet sig en international forståelse af, at trosfrihed
ud fra et menneskerettighedssynspunkt også skal omfatte en ligestilling af tro og livssyn, der
ikke er teistiske.
Denne udvikling er beskrevet af
FN’s daværende ”Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion
and belief”, Heiner Bielefeldt.
I forbindelse med, at han i 2016 aflagde et landebesøg i
Danmark afgav han en rapport, hvor han blandt andet viede et afsnit til Humanistisk Samfund.
Rapporten kan ses på:
http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/34/50/Add.1
Til det forhold, at man ikke i Danmark ikke giver vielsesbemyndigelse til livssynssamfund, der
ikke tror på transcendente magter skriver Heiner Bielefeldt i sin rapport på side 12:
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
1
. 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.
1
Siden Heiner Bielefelt aflagde besøg i Danmark er medlemstallet steget til 1.280.