The Freedom to Manifest Religious Belief: An Analysis of the Necessity Clauses of the ICCPR and the ECHR

This paper examines Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Both documents affirm freedom of religion as a fundamental human right, yet both recognize the need for restrictions on freedom of religion when “necessary.” The paper discusses the text of Articles 18 and 9, as well as European Court of Human Rights and Human Rights Committee cases interpreting and applying the Articles. The paper then analyzes several current laws restricting religious freedom on necessity grounds as to whether the restrictions are legitimate or illegitimate under the instruments. I conclude that the laws from several States likely do not pass muster, and pose a great risk to religious freedom. My second primary contention is that the “principle of secularism” (as defined primarily in European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence), without more, is an illegitimate justification for restrictions on religious freedom under the ICCPR and the ECHR. More specifically, the principle of secularism functioning as a principle by which religious expression may be excluded from full participation in democratic government is inimical to the ICCPR’s and ECHR’s vision of religious pluralism as “indissociable” from a democratic society. Further, the European Court’s application of the principle improperly equates a “secular” government with a democratic government, and as such is in tension with prior cases in which the Court has affirmed religious pluralism as axiomatic for a democratic society. The paper concludes with a discussion of the case of a pastor in Sweden who was convicted for preaching a sermon condemning homosexuality, as a test case for the application of the principles discussed throughout

GIOTTO's antenna de-spin mechanism: Ots lubrication and thermal vacuum performance

Except in the near Earth phase of GIOTTO's mission to Comet Halley, the HGA (high gain antenna) on board GIOTTO was the only designed means of up/down communications. The spacecraft spin stabilization required that the HGA be despun at the same rotational rate of nominally 15 rpm in order to keep the HGA pointing accurately to a Earth. A dual servomotor despin mechanism was designed and built by SEP of France for this purpose. The expected thermal environment suggested that dry lubrication was preferable to wet for the ball bearings but there existed no relevant data on the torque noise spectrum of candidate solid lubricants. Therefore ad hoc torque noise tests were run with two solid lubricants: ion plated lead film plus lead bronze cage (retainer) and a PTFE composite cage only. The lead lubrication showed the better spectrum up to the mission lifetime point so it was selected for continued test over some 20 times the Halley mission life, with periodic torque spectrum monitoring. The spectrum remained well within the pointing error budget over the 100 million revolutions covered

The Freedom to Manifest Religious Belief: An Analysis of the Neccesity Clauses of the ICCPR and the ECHR

This paper examines Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Both documents affirm freedom of religion as a fundamental human right, yet both recognize the need for restrictions on freedom of religion when “necessary.” The paper discusses the text of Articles 18 and 9, as well as European Court of Human Rights and Human Rights Committee cases interpreting and applying the Articles. The paper then analyzes several current laws restricting religious freedom on necessity grounds as to whether the restrictions are legitimate or illegitimate under the instruments. I conclude that the laws from several States likely do not pass muster, and pose a great risk to religious freedom. My second primary contention is that the “principle of secularism” (as defined primarily in European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence), without more, is an illegitimate justification for restrictions on religious freedom under the ICCPR and the ECHR. More specifically, the principle of secularism functioning as a principle by which religious expression may be excluded from full participation in democratic government is inimical to the ICCPR’s and ECHR’s vision of religious pluralism as “indissociable” from a democratic society. Further, the European Court’s application of the principle improperly equates a “secular” government with a democratic government, and as such is in tension with prior cases in which the Court has affirmed religious pluralism as axiomatic for a democratic society. The paper concludes with a discussion of the case of a pastor in Sweden who was convicted for preaching a sermon condemning homosexuality, as a test case for the application of the principles discussed throughout

Bartonella Henselae Inhibits Cellular Apoptotic Regulators to Ensure Survival

Human pathogens survive anti-pathogen host immune assault by either circumventing or evading the host immune response. Bartonella henselae, an intracellular pathogen previously shown to disrupt intrinsic apoptotic messengers to enhance its survival, exploits multiple facets of the cellular apoptotic mechanisms. Cellular pathways affected by apoptotic processes were assessed using real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (rRT-PCR) to measure the effect of B. henselae on cell regulator gene expression (TRADD, FADD, caspase-8 and caspase-3), caspase activity, DNA cell cycle analysis, cell regulator protein expression and overall cell viability and morphology. The presence of B. henselae suppresses overall gene expression for TRADD and FADD and it dramatically suppresses ceramide-induced TRADD and FADD gene expression. The presence of B. henselae has a noticeable effect on ceramide-induced caspase-8 and caspase-3 gene expression. Only caspase-3 enzymatic activity was ceramide-induced and likewise supressed by the presence of B. henselae, whereas caspase-6 and caspase-8 were unaffected and equivalent to controls. The presence of B. henselae inhibits ceramide-induced DNA fragmentation, maintains overall cell morphology and enhances host cell viability. Lastly, B. henselae inhibits the time-dependant ceramide-induction of TRADD protein and suppresses ubiquitous FADD protein expression. We demonstrated that B. henselae inhibits apoptotic induction in a systematic manner following exogenous apoptotic induction. B. henselae protection of microvascular endothelial cells from apoptosis induction begins at the modulation of cell surface receptor-dependent signaling. B. henselae minimizes, but does not completely abrogate, the cytotoxic effect of the apoptogenic shingolipid ceramide on human microvascular endothelial cells (CDC.EU.HMEC-1). Broadening our understanding of the sequence of cell regulator suppression events by intracellular pathogens will provide insight into disease manifestation. Further, understanding how infected cells initiate and conclude apoptosis will open new avenues into the study of disease treatment

Elucidating the Immunoactivity of a Goat Serum Peptide

The purpose of these studies was to determine if an immunomodulator was present in caprine serum. Controlled studies demonstrated that CSF-I, material fractionated from caprine serum possessed an immunomodulatory compound. Caprine serum was further fractionated into it?s peptidic components and a small contaminant of immunoglobulin G and albumin (Caprine serum fraction - immunomodulator 2, or CSF-I2). This was refined to a three peptidic isolate collectively identified as tri-peptidic immunostimulant or TPI. CSF-I2 does not possess antibacterial capabilities (as typically characteristic of a cationic peptide or defensin), does not contain a level of endotoxin sufficient to promote a pyrogenic response, and its functional ability to improve animal survival after an infectious challenge does not reside with molecular weight components greater than 10 kilodaltons, effectively excluding the immunoglobins, albumin, cytokines, and collectins. CSF-I2 was able to significantly reduce the mortality observed in chickens (from 80% to 13%) infected with Pasteurella multocida (Willeford et al., 2000), in mice (from 83% to 13.3%) infected with Salmonella typhimurium, and in canines (from 50% to 9.8%) diagnosed with parvovirus. CSF-I2 may well prove to provide prophylactic and therapeutic health benefits to humans. CSF-I2 may effectively combat pathogenesis when used as either an adjunct with conventional therapy (e.g., antibiotics) or when provided as the primary medicant