This study of the United Nations and European international human rights law guaranteeing freedom of religion addresses issues of great contemporary concern. There are many places in the world where the followers of a particular religion may not lawfully worship or practise their religion in their daily lives. Apostacy and proselytism may be criminal acts, as may artistic speech that causes offence to religious feelings. Religious intolerance continues to fuel a high proportion of the situations of armed conflict around the world, thus being the seemingly intractable cause of so much human suffering. Since 9/11, incitement to religious hatred has increased in significance, with Muslims being the targets of general blame. Religion is as the heart of the debate about multiculturalism, exemplified by the heated controversy in France about the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women. The relationship between Church and State remains a contentious issue in some other societies. In a watershed and contentious judgment in Refah Partisi v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Right has ruled that a state legal order that is founded on Shariah Law is not consistent with democracy in Europe, so that the banning of a political party that seeks to introduce such an order is not in breach of the guarantee of the right to freedom of association in the European Convention on Human Rights. And the return to strict Christian religious values in the United States has raised moral questions and issues of separation of Church and State for the courts.