Leaving or changing religion in the European Union Law: the impact of the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The paper aims to verify whether the right to freely change or leave a religion is adequately guaranteed in the European Union Law. The European Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) has in fact allowed religious denominations to process former members’ personal and sensitive data – including religious data – without their consent, also for religious propaganda activities. Similarly, religious organizations can process, without the data subject’s consent, also the personal data of those believers that have formally manifested the intention to withdraw from the religious faith, with the purpose of addressing religious content messages to them. In such a way the current regulation guarantees the religious denomination’s freedom but, conversely, it may impair the free exercise of the right to leave or change religion.