Description
This book examines major conceptual challenges confronting freedom of religion or belief in contemporary settings.
The volume brings together chapters by leading experts from law, religious studies, and international relations, who provide perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic. At a time when the polarization of ‘culture wars’ is aggravating tensions between secular and religious views about accommodating the conscientious claims of individuals and groups, and when the right to freedom of religion itself is facing misunderstanding and erosion, the work provides welcome clarity and depth. Some chapters adopt a primarily conceptual and historical approach; others analyze particular difficulties or conflicts that have emerged in European and American jurisdictions, along with concrete applications and recommendations for the future.
The book will be a valuable resource for students, academics, and policy-makers with an interest in law, religion, and human rights.
Table of Contents
Introduction
DONLU THAYER
PART I Definitions
- What is religious freedom? DAVID NOVAK
- Freedom of religion: fundamental right or impossibility? DAVID LITTLE
- The politics of sovereignty: the early modern origins of
freedom of religion
KURTIS ANDERSON - The secularity of law and the freedom from religion
ZACHARY CALO - Is reasonable accommodation sufficient protection for
the right to religious freedom in secular societies? GEORGIA ALIDA DU PLESSIS - Is Hobby Lobby dangerous for religious liberty? FREDERICK MARK GEDICKS AND ANDREW KOPPELMAN
- Fernández Martínez v. Spain: an unclear intersection of rights?
JAVIER MARTÍNEZ-TORRÓN - Does the European Convention on Human Rights guarantee a
right to freedom ‘from’ religion? GERHARD VAN DER SCHYFF - Autonomy of religious communities versus the battle for human
rights: two sides of the same coin
MERILIN KIVIORG - ‘Christian bigots’ and ‘Muslim terrorists’: religious liberty in a
polarized age THOMAS BERG
PART II Questions
PART III Applications
11. Managing religious diversity in Europe: legal implications of
religious affiliation and change of religion
MONTSERRAT GAS AIXENDRI
12. Laïcité, neutrality, and freedom of religion and conscience in
France after Charlie Hebdo: towards a nouvelle neutralité?
MARÍA JOSÉ VALERO ESTARELLAS
PART IV Predictions
13. Equal treatment of religions or differentiation between religions?
SOPHIE VAN BIJSTERVELD
14. The world-defining contrast between monism and dualism
and the future of religious freedom
BRETT G. SCHARFFS
15. Religious autonomy at the crossroads
W. COLE DURHAM, JR.
