ABSTRACT
Religious faith is considered as one of the essential elements of human existence protected by human rights, which enable every human being to survive and to live as human (Kirchschlaeger, 2013d, pp. 194–195). Human rights protect the freedom of the individual to religion and belief and to participation in the cultural life of the community (articles 18 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948) and therefore enhance indirectly religious practice. Religious and worldview-based communities enjoy indirect protection by human rights because the latter are individual rights. Human rights represent the perspective of the individual, not of the community: human rights do not protect religion as such but the freedom of the individual to share the beliefs, thoughts and worldviews of a community, to be part of a community, and to practice their way of life – or not.
