Religious Obligations vs Obligations to the Law

In the Netherlands, a public prosecutor is appealing a court ruling which removed a fine imposed on an Orthodox Jewish man who didn't have his mandatory identity card with him on the Sabbath. The man argued that his religion forbids him from carrying things on the Sabbath. The government argues that this religious rule isn't superior to the general rule that everyone must have ID.

The Public Prosecutor's Office disagrees: "The legislative branch decided to require everyone over a certain age to carry an ID card. That means everyone is required to meet that obligation, even those who have religious convictions. The law makes no exceptions."

It is not yet clear when the case will be heard.

The judge's ruling, which was announced on Friday, has been criticised by several MPs. Tofik Dibi of the Green Left party spoke of a world gone topsy-turvy: "Every religion is circumscribed by law, not the other way around."

A tweet by Democrats D66 MP Boris van der Ham read: "God above the law? No. Religion is nothing but one of many opinions. It is circumscribed by the same state laws."

Source: RNW [emphasis added]

It's noteworthy that Orthodox Jews have, over the centuries, developed all sorts of ways to accommodate their religious rules to activities which they want to engage in. They feel that they are adhering to the letter of the religious law but they develop "tricks" that transform technically illicit acts into licit acts.

Now, it's their religion and if they want to do this they are free to do so. However, it demonstrates to the rest of us that they are more than willing to find loopholes and work-arounds when it comes to their own convenience, interests, or goals. This should eliminate most sympathy when they turn around and refuse to do the same to accommodate generally applicable, neutral rules which everyone else has to follow.

If Orthodox Jews can hang string around a neighborhood to create a pseudo-extension of their synagogue ("eruv") in order to get around rules which ban carrying objects outside the synagogue on the sabbath, I think there's probably a way to have ID on them when they are outside on the sabbath. I assume that the man was wearing clothing, right?

If clothing can defined as not breaking the religious rules against carrying things, I'm sure that some sort of wearable ID can as well. Slip it into a special pocket, add a few stitches on Friday to make it "permanent" (it's as solid as that string), and it's ready for when you go outside on Saturday.