The wrongfulness of religious discrimination

Focusing primarily on the ECHR, my paper tracks the normative justification of religious antidiscrimination on the moral right to ethical independence. The analysis proceeds from the theoretical and doctrinal uncertainty over the relationship between religious antidiscrimination and other rights, such as freedom of religion and freedom of association. Based on a liberal egalitarian account of ethical independence, the paper pursues the argument that religious antidiscrimination, religious freedom and freedom of association, among other rights, share significant parts of their normative foundation on ethical independence. Moreover, I argue that religious antidiscrimination functions as a distinct axis, which complements other rights and, in specific ways, aims to secure sufficient social conditions for ethical independence. The paper aims to highlight the morally distinctive features of religious discrimination and their broader implications for a general theory of discrimination law.