'Als de dienst het toelaat. Over de weigerambtenaar en de gewetensvrijheid'

In this paper the focus is on the issue of religiously inspired conscientious objections by a civil officer towards performing same-sex marriages. Within legal-constitutional circles this issue is generally seen as a paradigmatic example of a constitutional rights conflict between, on the one hand, the right to equal treatment of homosexual couples and, on the other hand, the right to freedom of conscience and religion of the civil servant. Starting from a wider perspective (also encapsulating political, virtue-ethical and professional considerations), one of my conclusions is that choosing a strictly legal perspective on this issue may enlarge the conflict rather than solve it. Instead, civic virtues such as moderation, toleration and self-restraint seem to be quite indispensable.