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This article aims at diagnosing the development of Ummah while Muslims are living as minority in Australia. Through a sociological approach, qualitatively, some issues considered in understanding the development are practices of secularism, multiculturalism and protection of human rights. This academic framework in comprehending the development might be claimed as a new trajectory of sociological exploration. Accordingly, this study is proposed to become a preliminary research on Muslims' freedom of religion living in secular country. This article finds that Australia is a state that consistently has protected its citizens' freedom of religion and the Australian government, in dealing with social and religious issues, and law enforcement, has worked professionally. However, Muslims have faced challenging realities of cases of discrimination coming from fundamentalist Christians. The cases, indeed, can be mitigated through inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. This article argues that, so far, the development of Ummah in the country has been running well. Under the protection of a secular state, minority Muslims in Australian multicultural societies can enjoy their freedom of religion. Practices of inter-religious tolerance are stronger than the tensions and conflicts have happened. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mendiagnosa kondisi pembangunan umat ketika kaum Muslim hidup sebagai minoritas di Australia. Melalui pendekatan sosiologis, secara kualitatif, pelbagai isu yang dipertimbangkan adalah praktik sekularisme, multikulturalisme dan penegakan HAM. Kerangka kerja yang demikian dalam memandang pembangunan umat, dapat diklaim sebagai hal yang baru. Karena itu, studi ini diusulkan sebagai studi pendahuluan mengenai elaborasi sosiologis terhadap kebebasan beragama minoritas Muslim yang hidup di negara sekular. Artikel ini menemukan bahwa Australia adalah negara yang secara konsisten melindungi kebebasan beragama warga negaranya dan pemerintahnya bekerja secara profesional terutama dalam penegakan hukum. Tetapi, ...

The purpose of this paper is to present the importance of freedom or religion as a foundamental human right. Freedom of religion is one of the balancing factors in the life of the individuals, it is the most magnificent human identity which aims to achieve the purity of soul. Religion elevates the man to the highest human virtues and moral, helping for the normal functioning of society. This paper analize the fact that freedom of religion and beliefis is a basic right of every human being, it is an universal human right that worth for all persons equally anywhere, regardless of who they are, where they live, age, sex, race or ethnicity and what they believe or do not believe. Freedom of religion or belief is protected by Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights and other acts. So clearly religion has been an important source of human rights. Modern human dignity is based on the religious notion of holiness personified of every human being as a right universal human right, so freedom of religion and belief has its defense to respect the diversity because this contributes directly in the democracy, development, rule of law, peace and stability. So belief may not be limited under no circumstances. States should treat all individuals equally, without discrimination based on religion or belief. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s3p357

ÖZETAvrupa'da giderek çokkültürlü toplumların ortaya çıkışı, entegrasyon sürecinin çok yönlü ve dinamik boyutlarından biri olup bazı mevzuları incelemeyi gerekli kılmıştır. Din özgürlüğü ve AB'de bu özgürlüğü garanti altına alma ve geliştirme meselesi bu mevzulardan biri olmuştur. Din özgürlüğünü hem temel bir insan hakkı hem de çokkültürlü dokunun vazgeçilmez bir parçası olarak kabul eden AB, Üye Devletlerinde olduğu gibi aday ülkelerde de bu özgürlüğü teşvik etmek için adımlar atmıştır. Ancak, bazı Üye Devletlerde dini özgürlüklerin giderek siyasileştirilmesi halihazırda inşa sürecinde olan çokkültürlülüğü engelleme ihtimalini de beraberinde getirmiş ve AB'nin "Çeşitlilik içinde Birlik" söylemini problematikleştirmiştir. Olması muhtemel problemlerin önüne geçmek için, AB din özgürlüğü kavramını genişleme sürecine dahil etmekte, özgürlüğün aday ülkelerdeki durumunu değerlendirmekte ve gelişme amaçlayarak siyasi şartlılık ilkesini kullanmaktadır. Fakat, din özgürlüğü için siyasi şartlılık yüksek olmadığından, AB istediği etkiye ve sonuca ulaşamamaktadır. Buna ek olarak, "Çeşitlilik içinde Birlik" iddialarının da tehlikeye düşebileceği açıktır. Bu çerçevede, bu tez AB'ye Üye Devletlerin pratikteki din özgürlüğü uygulamalarının "Çeşitlilik içinde Birlik" sözünü desteklediği mi yoksa bu kavramın sadece AB yasal zemininde mi var olduğu sorusunu irdelemektedir. Aynı zamanda bu arkaplanda, tez Türkiye'nin AB'ye adaylık sürecinde din özgürlüğü kavramının yerini açıklığa kavuşturmayı amaçlayıp Türkiye'deki din özgürlüğünün katılım sürecine etkilerini incelemektedir. Tez, hem AB'de hem Türkiye'de din özgürlüğü kavramının yasal zemini ve pratikte uygulanışı arasında boşluk olduğu ve bu gözardı edilmesi zor boşluğun AB'nin "Çeşitlilik içinde Birlik" söylemini tartışmalara açık kıldığı sonucuna varmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: AB'de Çokkültürlülük, Din Özgürlüğü, Siyasi Şartlılık, Türkiye'nin AB'ye Adaylık Süreci. ABSTRACTThe gradual formation of multicultural societies in Europe has become one of the complex and dynamic dimensions of the integration process and necessitated some issues to be analysed in depth. The issue of freedom of religion and the efforts to promote and guarantee this freedom in the European Union (EU) have become one of these issues. Considering it both as an essential human right and an integral part of multicultural fabric, the EU has taken steps to promote freedom of religion in its Member States and candidate states. However, gradually politicized religious freedoms in some Member States might hamper multiculturalism and might render "United in Diversity" discourse problematic. To prevent future problems, the EU integrates the freedom of religion concept into its enlargement process, evaluates the situation of the principle in the applicant countries and uses its political conditionality aiming tat improvements. But as the political conditionality for the freedom of religion is not high, the EU fails to reach the desired effects. Moreover, the "United in Diversity" claims are jeopardized by the challenges diversity may pose. In this framework, this thesis tries to elaborate on the crucial question whether the practical application of the freedom of religion in the EU Member States support the motto of "United in Diversity" or it solely exists in EU Treaties, and documents. The thesis also aims to shed light upon the place of the freedom of religion in Turkey's EU Membership process and analyses the impact of the accession process on the freedom of religion in Turkey. The thesis concludes that there is a gap between legal systems and practice on the freedom of religion both in the EU and Turkey and this gap render the "United in Diversity" discourse of the EU contestable. Key Words: Freedom of Religion, Multiculturalism in the EU, Political Conditionality, Turkey's Candidature Process to the EU.

This article explores the practice of the superior judiciary of Pakistan as it relates to freedom of religion and rights of religious minorities. Pakistan's successive constitutions, which guarantee fundamental rights and provide for separation of powers and judicial review, contemplate judicial protection against unlawful executive and legislative actions. The record of Pakistan's judiciary about protection of the rights of religious minorities is uneven and has gone through three phases. The first phase is remarkable for unequivocal protection of freedom of religion and religious minorities. The second phase contracted this protection through undue deference to the legislature. In the last phase the judiciary capitulated before ascendant forces of religious reaction and abdicated its protective role. By bringing into relief the remarkably divergent pronouncements of Pakistan's judiciary regarding the religious status and freedom of religion of one particular religious group, the Ahmadis, this article examines the context, nature, and doctrinal determinants of judicial practice in all the three phases.

One of the elements in the idea of independence is the religious freedom for an individual to choose their own religion and practice it without any force or distraction from anyone. Thailand is known as a democracy country that promotes the freedom of rights to its citizens in all aspects of life including the rights of religious freedom. However, there are still doubts occurred between the Muslim and Buddhist in their interaction. This is because; there are rules and regulations that seem to limit the freedom of religion. Therefore, this study is using the analysis of the literatures produced related to the religious freedom phenomenon in the Southern Thai. Based on the study, the ruling factor is the main cause for the crisis to happen between the believers in the Southern Thai. The implementation of certain acts must be suitable with the situation and condition of a certain place as if it is not suitable, the citizens will react negatively towards the party who implemented the acts. Hence, it is important for the Southern Thais, who have different customs, languages, religions, social classes and other differences to have the specific law or rules and regulations for them to create the peaceful life for the society. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p287

The classical liberal concern for freedom of religion today intersects with concerns of equality and respect for minorities, of what might be loosely termed 'multiculturalism'. When these minorities were primarily understood in terms of ethno-racial identities, multiculturalism and freedom of religion were seen at that time as quite separate policy and legal fields. As ethno-religious identities have become central to multiculturalism (and to rejections of multiculturalism), specifically in Western Europe in relation to its growing Muslim settlements, not only have the two fields intersected, new approaches to religion and equality have emerged. We consider the relationship between freedom of religion and ethno-religious equality, or alternatively, religion as faith or conscience and religion as group identity. We argue that the normative challenges raised by multicultural equality and integration cannot be met by individualist understandings of religion and freedom, by the idea of state neutrality, nor by laicist understandings of citizenship and equality. Hence, a re-thinking of the place of religion in public life and of religion as a public good and a re-configuring of political secularism in the context of religious diversity is necessary. We explore a number of pro-diversity approaches that suggest what a respectful and inclusive egalitarian governance of religious diversity might look like, and consider what might be usefully learnt from other countries, as Europe struggles with a deeper diversity than it has known for a long time. The moderate secularism that has historically evolved in Western Europe is potentially accommodative of religious diversity, just as it came to be of Christian churches, but it has to be 'multiculturalised'.