Constitutions and religion in Africa

Religious freedom was one of the important rights to preoccupy constitutional designers during the wave of constitutional reforms in Africa in the 1990s. These reforms were made against a background of persecution of religious minorities, especially of religious leaders or groups which had expressed dissenting political views in the pre-1990 era of military and one-party dictatorships. This chapter examines, from a comparative perspective, the manner and extent to which religious rights are now recognized, protected and entrenched in modern African constitutions. It begins with a historical overview of the diverse approaches taken in Africa toward the constitutionalization of religious rights; after which it examines the scope of the constitutional entrenchment of religious rights and the nature of the limitations and restrictions placed on their exercise. The chapter concludes that, as with most of the fundamental rights that have been formally entrenched in modern African constitutions, the full enjoyment of religious rights is hampered in practice by an array of challenges.