LAUSR

This volume is focused on the ambiguous relationship religion and the first generation of human rights. These civil rights and liberties include, amongst others, the right to life, equality before the law, the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right to privacy, the protection from discrimination, and the prohibition of inhuman treatment. Although the separation between religion and state is not explicitly part of the codified lists of human rights, it offers important conditions for it. Separation of religion and state is therefore implicitly related to this first generation of human rights. This book explores the legitimization of these rights by individual people, both because of their religion and because of their vision of what constitutes human dignity. This empirical approach provides an important complementary perspective for legal, political and public debates. Empirical research can clarify the factors that induce or reduce people’s support of human rights. The key question in this volume is: to what extent do adolescents in different countries support civil human rights and what influences their attitudes towards these rights? All participating scholars have used the same measuring instruments in different countries. In all instances, respondents are students, either those at the end of secondary school or those in the first year of college. Therefore it is possible to validly compare empirical outcomes across national borders.