교회-국가 관계에서 본 종교의 자유 = Freedom of Religion in the Perspective of Church-State Relationship

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study aims to clarify the function of the freedom of religion, especially focusing on the church-state relationship in three countries-U.S.A., Germany, and South Korea.
In Constitution level, freedom of religion is prescribed separately from that of conscience in Korea. On the other hand, in U.S.A., there only provided freedom of religion and that of conscience is construed to be included in freedom of religion, In Germany, both sorts of freedom are stipulated in the same clause. The differences of the latter two countries from the former one have roots in history that freedom of conscience had been obtained from struggles for freedom of religions and therefore mode of living in those societies has been formulated and regulated by religion.
On the issue of church-state relationship, the Supreme Court of U.S.A. construed in former days that the state should be strictly separated from the church. But in recent days it has decided in some different positions, namely the position that the state should not be separated from but be neutral to the church, or the position that the state should appreciate the value of religion and therefore accommodate religion.
In Germany, the Constitutional Court has accepted the position that the state should be neutral to the church. In this the term 'neutral' means non-intervention, non-identification, equality and co-operation. But among these four elements the former three are equivalent to separation. Therefore the characteristic element of Germany is co-operation of state and church. And in case of contradiction of separation principle and co-operation principle, C.C. pursues harmony by the principle of free and voluntary participation of individuals.
In Korea, the principle of separation between church and state is clearly stated in the Constitution. This contains the following sub-principles: ban of establishment of state religion, Prohibition of religion education or practices by the state, prohibition of preferential/discriminative treatment of a specific religion or religions in-general, non-intervention of the church affairs by the state and vice versa. But the fundamental meaning of freedom of religion to spiritual existence of individuals and dignity of human being is not appropriately appreciated in related judicial decisions.
The critical point of church-state relationship lies in how to deal with truthness of religion in relation to freedom of that. To my view the ideal model of church-state relationship could be founded in the principle that freedom of religion is an essential prerequisite to pursuing the truthness of religion.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 서설
• Ⅱ. 미국에서의 종교의 자유
• Ⅲ. 독일에서의 종교의 자유
• Ⅳ. 우리나라에서의 종교의 자유
• Ⅴ. 결어