I.  The Rise of an Intolerant World view

        1.  Redefining "Religion"

        Virtually no one in present-day Western Europe, and certainly not governments or parliamentary commissions, would admit to being against religious liberty.  The technique used to discriminate against unpopular groups is to redefine the notion of "religion."

        While most scholars favor a broad definition of religion (for example, as a system of answers to the basic human question about the origins and destiny of humans), institutional definitions by political and judicial actors are often result-oriented.  For instance, in ruling to deny to the Church of Scientology the status of a religion, the Appeals Court of Milan, Italy (December 2, 1996) defined religion as "a system of doctrines centered on the presupposition of the existence of a Supreme Being, who has a relation with humans, the later having towards him a duty of obedience and reverence." On October 8, 1997 the Italian Supreme Court annulled this decision, castigating its theistic definition of religion as "unacceptable" and  "mistake," because it is "based only on the paradigm of biblical religions" and would exclude a number of maintime religions, including Buddhism.

        It is true that theologians, sociologists and historians have proposed different definitions of religion.  It is however, difficult to avoid the impression that in some European countries today the selection f a set of criteria among many available is governed by preliminary feeling whether an organization deserves protection or punishment.  Only broad definitions of religion appear to be consistent with the aims of religious liberty embodied in a  number of national constitutions and international declarations and  conventions.
 

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