Abstract
According to the European Court of Human Rights, the right to religious autonomy is at the heart of religious freedom for all believers. The right of religious communities to organize themselves according to their own rules, while being subject to limited judicial review, gives them a wide scope for action in the recruitment, dismissal and assessment of the professional and personal conduct of their ministers of religion. Because of their specific mission, the latter are bound by a heightened duty of loyalty towards the religious organization and its doctrine, which further limits their individual rights and freedoms.