One of my current research projects involves analysis of the religion provisions of various constitutions enacted since the year 2000. From time to time on this blog, I'll post extracts of those provisions arranged according to categories such as "Religious Freedom" (guarantee of individual rights), "Established Religion" (joining religion and government), "Establishment Clause" (separating religion and government), "Ceremonial Deism" (symbolic references to religion that have little or no legal effect), "Equal Protection of Religion" (non-discrimination guarantees), "Preamble", "Religious Education", and "Religious Limitations."
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The Morocco Constitution of 2011 is a very interesting example of a document that strongly incorporates a national religion while simultaneously making reference to traditional liberal concepts like freedom of religion, non-discrimination, and "the rights of man."
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Morocco Constitution 2011
Source (including translation): World
Constitutions Illustrated (HeinOnline)
Preamble
“A sovereign Muslim State, attached to its national
unity and to its territorial integrity, the Kingdom of Morocco intends to preserve,
in its plentitude and its diversity, its one and indivisible national identity.
Its unity, is forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamist, Berber [amazighe]
and Saharan-Hassanic [saharo-hassanie] components, nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebraic and Mediterranean influences [affluents].
The preeminence accorded to the Muslim religion in the national
reference is consistent with [va de pair] the attachment of the Moroccan people to the values of openness, of moderation, of tolerance and of dialog for mutual understanding
between all the cultures and
the civilizations of the world.”
“To deepen the bonds of togetherness with the Arab and
Islamist Ummah [Oumma], and to reinforce the bonds of fraternity and of solidarity with its brother peoples;”
Ceremonial Deism
Article
1: “The Nation relies for its collective
life on the federative constants [constantes fidratrices], on the occurrence of moderate
Muslim religion, [on] the national unity of its
multiple components [affluents], [on] the
constitutional monarchy and [on] democratic choice.”
Established Religion
Article 3:
“Islam is the religion of the State, which guarantees to all the free
exercise of beliefs [cultes].”
Article 41: “The
King, Commander of the Faithful [Amir Al Mouminine], sees to the respect for Islam. He is the Guarantor of the free exercise of
beliefs [cultes]. He presides over the Superior Council of the Ulema [Conseil
supirieur des Oukdma], charged with the study of questions that He submits to it. The Council is the sole instance enabled [habilite]
to comment [prononcer] on the religious consultations (Fatwas) before being
officially agreed to, on the questions to which it has been referred [saisi] and
this, on the basis of the
tolerant principles, precepts and designs of Islam. The attributions, the composition and the modalities of functioning of
the Council are established by Dahir [Royal Decree]. The King exercises by Dahirs the
religious prerogatives inherent in the institution of the Emirate of the Faithful [Imarat
Al Mouminine] which are conferred on
Him in exclusive manner by this Article.”
Article 175
“No revision may infringe the provisions relative to
the Muslim religion, on the monarchic form of the State, on the democratic choice
of the Nation or on [those] acquired in matters of [the] freedoms and of
fundamental rights inscribed in this
Constitution.”
Religious Freedom?
Article 3 “Islam is the religion of the State, which
guarantees to all the free exercise of beliefs [cultes].”
Article 41: “The
King, Commander of the Faithful [Amir Al Mouminine], sees to the respect for Islam. He
is the Guarantor of the free exercise of beliefs [cultes].”
Miscellaneous
Article 7: “The
political parties may not be founded on a religious, linguistic, ethnic or regional basis, or, in a general manner, on any
discriminatory basis or [basis] contrary to the Rights of Man. They may not have for [an] objective [but], infringement
to the Muslim religion, to the monarchical regime, to the constitutional
principles, to the democratic foundations or to the
national unity and territorial integrity of the Kingdom”
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