Ateismo e laicità nell'esperienza giuridica italiana

This essay focuses on the evolution of individual and collective forms of the Italian atheism, in the light of the normative and jurisprudential history of religious freedom. Their analysis has allowed the Author to underscore the essential characteristics of Italy’s secularism, under which the favor religionis (Articles 7, 8 and 20 of the Constitution) cohabits with the favor libertatis (Articles 2, 3 and 19 of the Constitution): while the latter puts emphasis on individuals’ rights and freedoms to choose and practice their religious and nonreligious beliefs, favor religionis gives special attention to religious denominations and institutions. This combination does not always result in harmonious coexistence. This is also because the favor religionis is strongly influenced by the bilateralism (state-church) method, as established in Articles 7.2 and 8.3 of the Italian Constitution. At the same time, favor libertatis tends to broaden the legal horizon of constitutional pluralism in order to consider ‘other’ groups, including those related to atheists, agnostics and rationalists. For this reason, the evolution of the role and legal relevance of Italian atheism remains extremely interesting, because it emphasizes the dynamic relationship between the principle of equality and the right to be different in an increasingly politically and socially polarised society.