The right to religious freedom of the Jehova’s Witnesses and the Mennonites according to the Argentinian Supreme Court of Justice (1976-2024)

Abstract

The legal demand of the minority religious groups for the recognition of expression and equality rights have been a judicial and legal controversy resolved by the Argentinian Supreme Court in two different ways: one done during the military regime the Jehovah’s Witnesses were seriously discriminated and their religious practices were a burden and on other when the democratic system returned they could enjoy constitutional protection. Along with this case, Mennonites faced governmental hostility toward their educational system in the last decades, a problem that it seems to be solved. These situations show, on one hand, that the Second Vatican Council´s Declaration Dignitatis Humanae was not integrated in the Latin American legislation, and on the other, the transformation of the religious map of the region was not perceived by the society as a relevant event. Nevertheless, the Argentinian Supreme Court in most of their decisions did understand how to resolve the demands of the minority religious groups recognizing exemption from governmental rules or regulations that rejected their beliefs.