Spiritual Lawfare: The Use and Misuse of Litigation in the Context of Human Rights, Religious Freedom, and Competing Human Rights

Lawfare refers to the harnessing and weaponisation of litigation in order to pursue a strategic objective, particularly by large and powerful groups or interests. <br/><br/>This article outlines the new concept of “Spiritual Lawfare”: a form of Lawfare leveraged by religious groups, individuals or organisations seeking to undermine or remove the rights of those with whom they fundamentally disagree on ideological grounds. This discussion focuses on Spiritual Lawfare levelled against those with specific protected characteristics under international human rights law due to their sexuality and/or gender identity, given that this group represents the most common current target of Spiritual Lawfare. <br/><br/>Whilst Spiritual Lawfare is a global phenomenon, the article focuses on examples from recent case law within England and Wales. Nevertheless, the identifying proposed markers for discerning Spiritual Lawfare, and differentiating it from routine and appropriate use of court structures, are of international application.