Le port des signes religieux dans l'espace public : une réflexion à partir du droit international et d'une comparaison entre le Canada, les États-Unis, la France et la Suisse
After establishing the methodological foundations of this study, we began our reflection by examining the issue of wearing religious symbols in the public sphere within the context of the debate between differentialist and universalist perspectives in the application of equality rights. Afterwards, we conducted an overview of conceptual frameworks related to the analysis of the subject: classical liberalism and republicanism from a universalist vision, diverse types of legal feminism, the theory of intersectionality, the communitarian approach, Kymlicka's renewed liberalism and the values related to Sandra Fredman's equality of law that are aligned within differentialist philosophy.  We subsequently identified Kymlicka's renewed liberalism and the values related to Fredman's equality of law as being the most appropriate framework for the analysis of the subject under study. Our study of international law allowed us to demonstrate that while European law tends to apply the universalist perspective in the application of rights to freedom of religion, this is not the case with United Nations law that adheres to a differentialist vision, and thus of Kymlicka's renewed liberalism and  of Fredman's equality perspective. With respect to the judicial systems of the United States, Canada, France and Switzerland, we found an intermittent application of both perspectives depending upon the domain of activity. However, Canada stood out in our analysis as having an approach more focussed on the differentialist vision as a result of its inclusive neutrality that focuses on the notions of inclusion and substantive equality for its nationals.
Freedom of Religion International law Constitutional law Equality rights Religious symbols Public sphere Neutrality Religious accommodation