Religious Conscientious Exemptions

Nehushtan, Yossi

Abstract

Several possible approaches can be applied by the state when it responds to religious conscientious objections. These approaches compare the response to religious-conscientious objections with that to non-religious objections. If the content of the objector’s conscience is significant when deciding to grant conscientious exemptions, three approaches to the practice of granting conscientious exemptions are possible: First, a non-neutral liberal approach that takes into consideration the content of the conscience but not its religiosity as such; second, a pro-religious approach; and third, an anti-religious approach. This paper contends that the non-neutral liberal approach and the pro-religious approach should be rejected in favor of an anti-religious approach to granting conscientious exemptions. The proposed anti-religious approach is as follows: (1) unjustified intolerance should not be tolerated; (2) empirical evidence links religion and intolerance – that is, people’s responses to measures of religion and intolerance are closely related; (3) theoretical evidence links (some) religions and intolerance; and (4) the religiosity of conscience gives the state a reason to refuse to grant conscientious exemptions.

Citation

Nehushtan, Y. (2011). Religious Conscientious Exemptions. Law and Philosophy, 30(2), 143-166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10982-010-9088-4

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 27, 2010
• Online Publication Date: Nov 10, 2010
• Publication Date: 2011-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 29, 2024
• Journal: Law and Philosophy
• Print ISSN: 0167-5249
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-0522
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 143-166
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10982-010-9088-4
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10982-010-9088-4