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The EUREL project

– EUREL (EUrope - RELigion) stands for a website of information published by a group of experts members of a scientific network. The EUREL website aims to provide accurate and up-to-date (...)

 EUREL (EUrope - RELigion) stands for a website of information published by a group of experts members of a scientific network.

 The EUREL website aims to provide accurate and up-to-date information on the social and legal status of religion in Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective.
This website is intended for the international scientific community, public authorities and political forces, and gathers comparative information concerning the enlarged Europe (EU member states, candidates countries and other European countries). A specific headline is dedicated to Europe as a whole, from a institutional perspective (religious denominations and the European Union, or the Council of Europe...) and from a comparative point of view (treatment of a particular issue by various European countries).

 Initially established to facilitate comparative approaches and international exchanges at the time of an 8 members European Union, the network gradually opened to an enlarged Europe with Switzerland, Russia, and Turkey as well as new EU members. Recently, it has included Canada, a country which both provides an interesting comparative perspective and has its importance in the legal dialogue.

 Data are provided and checked by a network of correspondents, specialists of law or social sciences.

 ISSN 3001-5103

D 4 September 2017   

The Eurel team

Anne-Laure Zwilling
Director of the project and manager of the Eurel network
Christophe Lemius (2010-2020)
Website design and administration, newsletter, on line publishing
Catherine (...)

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Anne-Laure Zwilling
Director of the project and manager of the Eurel network

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Christophe Lemius (2010-2020)
Website design and administration, newsletter, on line publishing

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Catherine Zimmerlin
Scientific watch, news, on line publishing


The Eurel project is supported by the joint research unit DRES of the CNRS and the University of Strasbourg, and the participation of GSRL - Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (CNRS / EPHE, Paris).

D 1 September 2017   

The sections of EUREL

The information provided on the EUREL website is organised under different headings. The country overview offers basic geographic and demographic data such as area, population, or main cities. (...)

The information provided on the EUREL website is organised under different headings.

 The country overview offers basic geographic and demographic data such as area, population, or main cities. It also provides a short presentation of the religious situation of the country.

 The historical highlights heading contains two chapters: firstly, a chronology, providing reference points in the history of the country.
Secondly, the historical survey provides significant elements of the country’s recent history, focussing on religious history.

 The law and religion heading presents legislation concerning religious activities and organisation of religious denominations.
In different chapters, this heading provides the Legal framework with a general overview the status of religious denominations; the Specific fields in which law can apply to religion, namely the financing of religions, the status of schooling, of marriage, the chaplaincy, the workplace, the biolaw and the intimate, the ritual slaughter, as well as any other significant information; the main texts.

 Under the heading social and religious data, you will find a survey of the state of the main religions, given via quantitative information.
Firstly, the sources of information are presented (how and where information is collected and broadcast, and how reliable it is).
The heading includes a chapter describing the religious landscape, and information concerning the religious groups which also takes into account the phenomenon of non-religion.
These data are completed and illustrated in the chapter concerning religious geography, which details the geographical distribution of religious belonging and explains the reasons and sociological impact of such distribution.
The religious belonging and religious demography chapter provides data concerning their evolution; this may concern all the religious denominations, or give a more precise approach of one of them. The religious demography highlights the importance of clergy.
The religious participation chapter contains three parts: religious practice, financial participation, religious manifestations such as meetings, pilgrimages etc. This chapter favours a comparative perspective, between the different countries as well as, for each country, for its recent development.
The last chapter presents religious attitudes, opinions and beliefs, mainly via results of surveys.

 Under the heading religion and society, we assess the impact of religion on different aspects of social life and its legal treatment in the country.
This heading is divided into ten chapters: questions of schooling, questions concerning religious minorities (with a specific interest for islam), questions concerning social welfare, a chapter concerning religions in and through the media, one concerning the influence of religions on matters of health taking also into account questions related to death, one ethical issues, one on the matters of religion in the work place, yet another concerning the relationship between religion and prison, the next one dealing with religious practices and the last one with the impact of religion.

 The current issues and debates take into account any aspect of the religion which emerges in the public debate. This heading can contain one or several chapters, each one expressing a matter of general interest; it highlights the stakes and expresses the different trends of opinion.
This heading is updated at least on a quarterly basis; ancient chapters can be found under the "archives" item.

 The research and higher education heading informs, on each country, on the institutional framework of instruction and research in law and sociology of religions (university syllabus, research institutions, associations and so on). This part presents on the one hand comparative information on matters such as where research and teaching for each discipline takes place; on the other hand a presentation of the forms of institutionalization and trends of thought concerning these questions.

 Under the further information heading, bibliographic marks and a list of links can be found.
The bibliographic highlights contain three parts: references in history, law of religions and sociology of religions.
The useful links send back to websites providing precise and interesting information.

Note

A specific information may be related to several topics. For instance, the question of schooling will be dealt with under the heading "juridical status of religions", "religion and society", and possibly "topical items". When searching for information on a specific subject, please remember to use the search item, as well as the list of thematic searches available in the tabs at the top of the page.
All the juridical texts mentioned in Eurel provide a link to the Legirel database, realised by DRES, which gives access to the full text of the legislation of the member states of the European Union, concerning the organisation and legal status of religious denominations.

D 30 September 2022   

Scientific responsibility and collaborations

– The EUREL project is supported by DRES - Droit, religion, entreprise et société, research unit of the CNRS (French national research center) and the University of Strasbourg, and the GSRL - (...)

 The EUREL project is supported by DRES - Droit, religion, entreprise et société, research unit of the CNRS (French national research center) and the University of Strasbourg, and the GSRL - Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (CNRS / Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes).

DRES - Droit, religion, entreprise et société (UMR 7354)
Director : Vincente Fortier
MISHA, 5, allée du général Rouvillois, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex
Tel. : +33 (0)3 68 85 61 15, Fax : +33 (0)3 68 85 62 80

GSRL - Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (UMR 8582)
Director: Sébastien Fath
27, rue Paul Bert 94 204 – Ivry-sur-Seine Cedex

 The Eurel project is part of a European network of scientific collaboration.

 The EUREL website is constantly being updated and upgraded. However, the number of countries available, the information provided and the topics taken into account are not only the result of an editorial choice, but also depend highly on the availability of qualified people. The team tries its best to constantly enrich the website: new information is added, existing information is completed or updated, and new countries are taken into account. If you wish to contribute, please use the contact form to write to the managers.

D 3 January 2022   

History of the project

The Eurel site is now more than 15 years old. The initial project, launched by Jean-Paul Willaime (sociologist of religions, researcher at the CNRS in Strasbourg in what is currently UMR 7354 (...)

The Eurel site is now more than 15 years old.
The initial project, launched by Jean-Paul Willaime (sociologist of religions, researcher at the CNRS in Strasbourg in what is currently UMR 7354 DRES), was of a printed publication on religious demography in Europe. Soon, it evolved into opening an information website on the sociology of religion.
In 2001, with the participation of Francis Messner, a lawyer and researcher at the CNRS, it was decided to include issued of law of religion, in particular state-religion relations.
Jean-Paul Willaime then involved the Parisian research centre GSRL (Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités, CNRS-EPHE) in the project.
The site was opened to the public in 2003; since then, the two research centres (DRES and GSRL) have contributed to the project, which has been managed since 2010 by Anne-Laure Zwilling (CNRS research fellow at UMR 7354).

D 24 January 2019   

Support Eurel

To support Eurel financially, see the Fondation de l’université de Strasbourg.

To support Eurel financially, see the Fondation de l’université de Strasbourg.

D 22 July 2022   

Copyright and disclaimer

– How to quote an article from the Eurel website
Author, "title of article", Eurel-Name of Country (path), date of article, url Example: Anne Fornerod, Anne-Laure Zwilling, "Legal frame of the (...)

 How to quote an article from the Eurel website

Author, "title of article", Eurel-Name of Country (path), date of article, url
 Example: Anne Fornerod, Anne-Laure Zwilling, "Legal frame of the ritual slaughter", Eurel-France (Law and Religion » Specific Fields » Other dispositions), February 2015, http://www.eurel.info/spip.php?rubrique350&lang=en

 Copyright

All the texts found on this site remain the exclusive property of their authors and reproduction is subject to the usual French copyright laws :
 copying or reproduction is strictly reserved for personal use and must not be exploited for collective purposes.
 the quotation of short extracts is authorized providing that the URL site (http://www.eurel.info/) and the name of the author are mentioned clearly.
 any other use requires the prior permission of the website producers; this permission can be asked by sending an e-mail to contact.

 Links

Links towards Eurel pages are authorized provided that they open in a new window or a new tab (no framing); it is recommended to explicitly mention the full name of the website in the title of the link.

 Personal data

Personal data are collected only for the newsletter subscription and the contact form. In accordance with the French law Nr.78-17 of 6 January 1978, the right of access and rectification of personal data may be exercised by sending an e-mail to contact.

 Responsibility

All texts provided on this site are the responsibility of their authors.
The Eurel website provides links to other sites; its producers cannot be held responsible or liable for the contents therein.

 Directors of publication

Vincente Fortier (DRES Droit, religion, entreprise et société)
MISHA - Allée du général Rouvillois
67083 STRASBOURG cedex , Tél. : +33 (0)3 88 41 63 15)

 Hosting

Direction des Systèmes d’Information du CNRS

D 9 January 2017   

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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