L’accommodement belge éclot entre égalité formelle, légalité et neutralité

• Main Authors: Xavier Delgrange, Hélène Lerouxel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Presses universitaires de Strasbourg 2019-05-01
• Series: Revue du Droit des Religions
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rdr/297

The concept of accommodation in Belgium faces a legal and political tradition that could be summarized in three words: formal equality, legality and consensus. While the first two made difficult the importation of the concept, the last has certainly encouraged its emergence. Four accommodations can illustrate Belgian particularities by highlighting the different degrees of involvement of the lawmaker: the conscience clauses provided for in medical matters, which are fully regulated by law; ritual slaughter which tends to be limited or even prohibited; schools of minority denominations, for which the authorities adopt an interpretation of the legislation that can be described as paralegal; and ritual circumcision, which the legislator prefers to keep out of the law.