Belgium is expected to officially recognise Buddhism

Belgium should officially recognise Buddhism after the approval of a bill by the federal government on 17 March, which will provide funding and structuring. Nevertheless, one may wonder about the neutrality of the Belgian state in matters of religion with regard to the treatment reserved for other minority religions present in the country.

Recognition as a ‘non-denominational philosophical community’, a status that has been that of secularism since 2002 and which opens the door to federal funding, official delegates, school classes and the remuneration of their servants.

The Belgian Buddhist Union had requested recognition in March 2006. The union estimates the number of Buddhists in Belgium at 150,000. The only other EU country where Buddhism is recognised is Austria.

There are currently six worship services officially recognised in Belgium: the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox, the Israelite, the Anglican, the Protestant Evangelical and the Islamic, recognised in 1974.

Buddhism would be recognised as “a non-denominational philosophical organization” alongside organised secularism, recognised since 2002. It would receive federal funding of up to €1.2 million.

Once voted by the Parliament, the Law will pave the way to the creation of local institutions, to the sending of Buddhist delegates in ports and airports, in prisons, in the army, hospitals, the opening of Buddhism courses in official education alongside teaching of the other worships services. All Belgian provinces and the Brussels Region would then also have to each finance a local Buddhist centre.

Is the Belgian state ‘neutral’?

Indeed, one may wonder about Belgium’s neutrality in matters of religion when it only recognises traditional religions, secularism and, in the near future, Buddhism, the latter being “non-confessional philosophical communities”, and when it does not recognise any of the country’s minority religions like Mormons, Bahá’í, Scientologists, Sikhs.

In 2013, the Hindu Forum of Belgium requested its recognition. It is one of these minority religions that could claim to enjoy the same rights as Catholicism or Islam.

Jehovah’s Witnesses had taken their case to the European Court of Human Rights to protest against discrimination by the Belgian state. In April 2022, the Court ruled in their favour, seriously criticising Belgium for the arbitrary and unclear nature of its procedure for recognising religions, which does not offer a sufficient degree of legal certainty. Indeed, the recognition procedure is not governed by any text and does not provide for any deadline.

For there to be true equality with regard to the rights of religions, Belgium, which does not have a state religion, would have to stop financing ministers of religion. In 2023, a religious minister normally earns between €2,104 and €2,987 gross per month at the beginning of his or her contract and, after 5 years of service, between €2,597 and €3,679 per month for a 38-hour week. This is above the Belgian minimum wage of €1,955.04. Taxpayers will appreciate this.

These arbitrariness are compounded by the question of whether it is incumbent on a secular state to decide on the merits of one religion over another, what legitimacy it would have with regard to the right to freedom of conscience and religion, and whether it would be possible for the state to impose a ban on the recognition of a religion.

Belgian Constitution - Co-ordinated on 17 February 1994
Article 181
§ 1er. The State awards remuneration and pensions to religious leaders ; those amounts required are included in the budget on an annual basis.
§ 2. The State awards remuneration and pensions to representatives of organizations recognized by the law as providing moral assistance according to a non-religious philosophical concept ; those amounts required are included in the budget on an annual basis.