A liberty viewed through American constitutional lens dissection of religious freedom rights in the Philippines

This paper examines the judicial practice in the Philippines in resolving religious freedom cases through the American constitutional lens. A qualitative analysis of Philippine cases selected based on their doctrinal value from 1959 to 2014 was employed. Results of this analysis yield a finding that the Philippine judicial system relies heavily on the American jurisprudence. Although admittedly the American concept of religious freedom rights was exported and transplanted into the Philippine legal framework, the propriety of this judicial practice remains to be suspect given with the diametrically opposed legal, social, and historical contexts on which this right was formed under the two respective legal spheres. This is since the Philippines remains to be predominated by the Catholic Church in contrast to religious pluralism existing in the United States. Thus, it is but proper for Philippine courts to resolve domestic religious freedom cases not only through a single American constitutional lens but also in reference to other social and historical contexts unique to the Philippine legal setting. Domestic courts may formulate a new legal framework for the resolution of religious freedom cases which encapsulates the unique historical, social, and legal backdrop in the Philippines.

Keywords – non-establishment of religion, religious freedom rights, right to religious belief.