Democracy, Law and Religious Pluralism in Europe

Democracy, Law and Religious Pluralism in Europe PDF Author: Ferran Requejo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317637275
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
In contrast with the progressive dilution of religions predicted by traditional liberal and Marxist approaches, religions remain important for many people, even in Europe, the most secularised continent. In the context of increasingly culturally diverse societies, this calls for a reinterpretation of the secular legacy of the Enlightenment and also for an updating of democratic institutions. This book focuses on a central question: are the classical secularist arrangements well equipped to tackle the challenge of fast-growing religious pluralism? Or should we move to new post-secular arrangements when dealing with pluralism in Europe? Offering an interdisciplinary approach that combines political theory and legal analysis, the authors tackle two interrelated facets of this controversial question. They begin by exploring the theoretical perspective, asking what post-secularism is and looking at its relation to secularism. The practical consequences of this debate are then examined, focusing on case-law through four empirical case studies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political theory, philosophy, religion and politics, European law, human rights, legal theory and socio-legal studies.

Democracy, Law and Religious Pluralism in Europe

Democracy, Law and Religious Pluralism in Europe PDF Author: Ferran Requejo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317637275
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Get Book

Book Description
In contrast with the progressive dilution of religions predicted by traditional liberal and Marxist approaches, religions remain important for many people, even in Europe, the most secularised continent. In the context of increasingly culturally diverse societies, this calls for a reinterpretation of the secular legacy of the Enlightenment and also for an updating of democratic institutions. This book focuses on a central question: are the classical secularist arrangements well equipped to tackle the challenge of fast-growing religious pluralism? Or should we move to new post-secular arrangements when dealing with pluralism in Europe? Offering an interdisciplinary approach that combines political theory and legal analysis, the authors tackle two interrelated facets of this controversial question. They begin by exploring the theoretical perspective, asking what post-secularism is and looking at its relation to secularism. The practical consequences of this debate are then examined, focusing on case-law through four empirical case studies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political theory, philosophy, religion and politics, European law, human rights, legal theory and socio-legal studies.

Religion and Normativity, Volume III

Religion and Normativity, Volume III PDF Author: Peter Lodberg
Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag
ISBN: 8779346561
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
The volumes of Religion and Normativity present the latest research in three central fields. Volume III discusses religious pluralism and the development of a Western European version of Islam. The question of religious authority in a European tradition of enlightenment is also included. The analyses are inter-disciplinary, including the ideas of the study of religion, theology, politology and the history of ideas.

Religion, Secularism, and Constitutional Democracy

Religion, Secularism, and Constitutional Democracy PDF Author: Jean L. Cohen
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231540736
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
Polarization between political religionists and militant secularists on both sides of the Atlantic is on the rise. Critically engaging with traditional secularism and religious accommodationism, this collection introduces a constitutional secularism that robustly meets contemporary challenges. It identifies which connections between religion and the state are compatible with the liberal, republican, and democratic principles of constitutional democracy and assesses the success of their implementation in the birthplace of political secularism: the United States and Western Europe. Approaching this issue from philosophical, legal, historical, political, and sociological perspectives, the contributors wage a thorough defense of their project's theoretical and institutional legitimacy. Their work brings fresh insight to debates over the balance of human rights and religious freedom, the proper definition of a nonestablishment norm, and the relationship between sovereignty and legal pluralism. They discuss the genealogy of and tensions involving international legal rights to religious freedom, religious symbols in public spaces, religious arguments in public debates, the jurisdiction of religious authorities in personal law, and the dilemmas of religious accommodation in national constitutions and public policy when it violates international human rights agreements or liberal-democratic principles. If we profoundly rethink the concepts of religion and secularism, these thinkers argue, a principled adjudication of competing claims becomes possible.

Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Europe

Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Europe PDF Author: M.L.P. Loenen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789050956420
Category : Freedom of religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
'How should we deal with religious pluralism in contemporary Europe from a human rights perspective and where should we draw the line, if any?' This was the central question of an expert seminar held in 2006 at Utrecht University to celebrate the inaugural address of Abdullahi An-Na'im, who occupied the G.J. Wiarda Chair at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) in 2005/2006. His address, as well as the contributions to the seminar, is published in this volume. Though religious pluralism in itself is anything but new in Europe, the influx of large groups of non-Christians, especially Muslims, and the political climate after recent terrorist attacks have profoundly changed the terms of the debate on how to deal with it. Should all religions be treated the same, or is it legitimate to take European Christian heritage into account? Does religion deserve more protection than culture? What does it mean if we say the State has to be secular and/or neutral? How should freedom of religion be dealt with if it conflicts with other fundamental rights such as sex equality? And how should one approach limitations on the freedom of expression that are related to religion, such as hate speech bans or criminalisation of glorifying terrorism? The questions are set against the background of modern notions of citizenship and the European human rights framework. Though they do not lend themselves to easy answers, this collection endeavours to provide ample inspiration to take the discussion a step further. Book jacket.

Negotiating Democracy and Religious Pluralism

Negotiating Democracy and Religious Pluralism PDF Author: Karen Barkey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019753001X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
A collection of essays that situates and furthers contemporary debates around the prospects of democracy in diverse societies within and beyond the West. Negotiating Democracy and Religious Pluralism examines the relationship between the functioning of democracy and the prior existence of religious plurality in three societies outside the West: India, Pakistan, and Turkey. All three societies had on one hand deep religious diversity and on the other long histories as imperial states that responded to religious diversity through their specific pre-modern imperial institutions. Each country has followed a unique historical trajectory with regard to crafting democratic institutions to deal with such extreme diversity. The volume focuses on three core themes: historical trends before the modern state's emergence that had lasting effects; the genealogies of both the state and religion in politics and law; and the problem of violence toward and domination over religious out-groups. Volume editors Karen Barkey, Sudipta Kaviarj, and Vatsal Naresh have gathered a group of leading scholars across political science, sociology, history, and law to examine this multifaceted topic. Together, they illuminate various trajectories of political thought, state policy, and the exercise of social power during and following a transition to democracy. Just as importantly, they ask us to reflexively examine the political categories and models that shape our understanding of what has unfolded in South Asia and Turkey.

Law, State and Religion in the New Europe

Law, State and Religion in the New Europe PDF Author: Lorenzo Zucca
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521198100
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
The return of religion to the public sphere raises various dilemmas. Rights and values, pluralism and identity, justice and efficacy, autonomy and tradition, and integration and toleration cannot always be balanced without the loss of something valuable. This volume of essays tackles such dilemmas from two perspectives. To begin, major contemporary theorists rethink the place of religion in the public sphere from republican, liberal and critical-theoretical viewpoints. Contributors then bring together theory and practice to better conceptualize and assess the latest developments in European jurisprudence with respect to religion.

Democracy, Religious Pluralism and the Liberal Dilemma of Accommodation

Democracy, Religious Pluralism and the Liberal Dilemma of Accommodation PDF Author: Monica Mookherjee
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048190177
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
How should liberal democratic governments respond to citizens as religious believers whose values, norms and practices might lie outside the cultural mainstream? Some of the most challenging political questions arising today focus on the adequacy of a policy of ‘live and let live’ liberal toleration in contexts where disputes about the metaphysical truth of conflicting world-views abound. Does liberal toleration fail to give all citizens their due? Do citizens of faith deserve a more robust form of accommodation from the state in the form of ‘recognition’. This issue is far from settled. Controversies over the terms of religious accommodation continue to dominate political agendas around the world. This is the first edited collection to provide a sustained examination of the politics of toleration and recognition in an age of religious pluralism. The aftermath of the events of September 11th have dramatised the urgency of this debate. It has also surfaced, nationally and globally, in disputes about terrorism, security and gender and human rights questions in relation to minority communities. This volume brings together a group of new and established scholars from the fields of law and philosophy, who all present fresh and challenging perspectives on an urgent debate. It will be indispensable reading for advanced researchers in political and legal philosophy, religious and cultural studies and related disciplines.

Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism

Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism PDF Author: Thomas Banchoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198041979
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Religious pluralism is everywhere in today's politics. Increased immigration flows, the collapse of communism, and the globalization of communications technologies have all fostered a wider variety of religious beliefs, practices, and organizations within and across democratic societies. This is true in both the United States and Europe, where growing and diverse minority communities are transforming the political landscape. As a result, controversies over such things as headscarves and depictions of Mohammed are unsettling a largely secular Europe, while a Christian majority in the US faces familiar questions about church-state relations amidst unprecedented religious diversity. Far from receding into the background, religious language pervades arguments around established issues such as abortion and capital punishment, and new ones such as stem cell research and same-sex marriage. In Democracy and the New Religious Pluralism, leading scholars from multiple disciplines explore these dynamics and their implications for democratic theory and practice. What are the contours of this new religious pluralism? What are its implications for the theory and practice of democracy? Does increasing religious pluralism erode the cultural and social foundations of democracy? To what extent do different religious communities embrace similar -- or at least compatible -- ethical and political commitments? By seeking answers to these questions and revealing religious pluralism as both a source of animosity and a potent force for peaceful engagement, this book offers a revealing look at the future of religion in democratic societies.

Rights, Religious Pluralism and the Recognition of Difference

Rights, Religious Pluralism and the Recognition of Difference PDF Author: Dorota Anna Gozdecka
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317629809
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Human rights and their principles of interpretation are the leading legal paradigms of our time. Freedom of religion occupies a pivotal position in rights discourses, and the principles supporting its interpretation receive increasing attention from courts and legislative bodies. This book critically evaluates religious pluralism as an emerging legal principle arising from attempts to define the boundaries of freedom of religion. It examines religious pluralism as an underlying aspect of different human rights regimes and constitutional traditions. It is, however, the static and liberal shape religious pluralism has assumed that is taken up critically here. In order to address how difference is vulnerable to elimination, rather than recognition, the book takes up a contemporary ethics of alterity. More generally, and through its reconstruction of a more difference-friendly vision of religious pluralism, it tackles the problem of the role of rights in the era of diverse narratives of emancipation.

Belief, Law and Politics

Belief, Law and Politics PDF Author: Marie-Claire Foblets
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317175336
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This edited collection gathers together the principal findings of the three-year RELIGARE project, which dealt with the question of religious and philosophical diversity in European law. Specifically, it covers four spheres of public policy and legislation where the pressure to accommodate religious diversity has been most strongly felt in Europe: employment, family life, use of public space and state support mechanisms. Embracing a forward-looking approach, the final RELIGARE report provides recommendations to governance units at the local, national and European levels regarding issues of religious pluralism and secularism. This volume adds context and critique to those recommendations and more generally opens an intellectual discussion on the topic of religion in the European Union. The book consists of two main parts: the first includes the principal findings of the RELIGARE research project, while the second is a compilation of 28 short contributions from influential scholars, legal practitioners, policy makers and activists who respond to the report and offer their views on the sensitive issue of religious diversity and the law in Europe.