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SC on religious freedom in PH: 'No group is marginalized based on religious beliefs'
SC on religious freedom in PH: 'No group is marginalized based on religious beliefs'
The Supreme Court (SC) stressed to its foreign counterparts that the Philippines, under the Constitution and the law, “recognizes a religious group’s right to practice their faith without interference and an equal right to practice no religion at all.”
Religious freedom in the Philippines was tackled by SC Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh during the recent 31st International Law and Religion Symposium which was hosted by the International Law Center for Law and Religion Studies of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, United States.
“The very essence of religious freedom in the Philippines lies in creating an inclusive society where religious differences are celebrated rather than feared and where the State plays a neutral role in ensuring that no group is marginalized based on their beliefs,” Justice Singh said.
She shared during the symposium that “while the Philippines is predominantly a Roman Catholic nation, there is a rich diversity of religious beliefs, including Islam and Christian denominations.”
She pointed out that religious freedom in the Philippines is more than just a constitutional right and must be recognized as a cornerstone for peace-building in a diverse society.
“By respecting the beliefs of all religious communities, whether they belong to the majority or minority, the law creates an environment of tolerance, mutual respect, and dialogue. The various religions in the Philippines -- whether Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Indigenous, or otherwise -- are all given space to thrive without fear of discrimination or coercion,” she stressed.
In a press briefer, the SC’s Public Information Office (SC-PIO) said the Justice Singh “emphasized that the Philippine Constitution envisions benevolent neutrality through the Non-Establishment Clause and the Freedom of Exercise Clause.”
Google says that non-establishment clause means that “no law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed.”
It says that freedom of exercise clause “protects citizens' right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of ‘public morals’ or a ‘compelling’ governmental interest.”
Citing previous SC decisions, Justice Singh said that in 1937, the High Court ruled that the “Non-Establishment Clause was not violated when the government’s Director of Posts sold postage stamps commemorating the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress.”
In 1947, the SC “upheld a law exempting certain employees from closed shop agreements in collective bargaining because this was prohibited by their religion, while in 1993, the Court exempted members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from saluting the Philippine flag or singing the national anthem because of their religious convictions,” she also said.
At the same time, Justice Singh shared the successful conduct of the first digitalized and regionalized Shari’ah Bar Examinations last April 28 and May 2, 2024.
She said that the annual examinations, which the SC recently institutionalized, “demonstrated the SC’s commitment to religious inclusivity under the outcome of Access in its Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-2027 (SPJI).”
She reported that a significant number of female Muslim Filipinos took and passed the 2024 Shari-ah Bar Examinations -- 64.6 percent of those who completed the examinations and 62.3 percent of those who passed the examinations – while nine out of 11 of the top examinees are women, “another indicum of the Supreme Court’s drive for inclusivity, not only in religion but also in gender.”
Justice Singh was one of the three judicial leaders during the breakout session of the symposium. The other two were Judge David Edward Ashton Lewis of the Supreme Court of Fiji and Senior Judge David Campbell of the United States First District Court, District of Arizona, and chair of the US Federal Judiciary Committee on International Judicial Relations.