Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival
Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival

Author: Susanna Mancini

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 019102516X

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The global movement of culture and religion has brought about a serious challenge to traditional constitutional secularism. This challenge comes in the form of a political and institutional struggle against secular constitutionalism, and a two pronged assault on the very legitimacy and viability of the concept. On the one hand, constitutional secularism has been attacked as inherently hostile rather than neutral toward religion; and, on the other hand, constitutional secularism has been criticized as inevitably favouring one religion (or set of religions) over others. The contributors to this book come from a variety of different disciplines including law, anthropology, history, philosophy and political theory. They provide accounts of, and explanations for, present predicaments; critiques of contemporary institutional, political and cultural arrangements, justifications and practices; and suggestions with a view to overcoming or circumventing several of the seemingly intractable or insurmountable current controversies and deadlocks. The book is separated in to five parts. Part I provides theoretical perspectives on the present day conflicts between secularism and religion. Part II focuses on the relationship between religion, secularism and the public sphere. Part III examines the nexus between religion, secularism and women's equality. Part IV concentrates on religious perspectives on constraints on, and accommodations of, religion within the precincts of the liberal state. Finally, Part V zeroes in on conflicts between religion and secularism in specific contexts, namely education and freedom of speech.

Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival
Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival

Author: Susanna Mancini (jurist.)

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 9780191748264

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Traditional models of constitutional secularism have struggled to accommodate the modern revival of religious politics. The concept has been criticised as empty or illegitimate, while political and legal struggles have contested its meaning. This title gathers leading experts to examine the scope and substance of constitutional secularism today.

Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival
Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival

Author: Susanna Mancini

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0191025178

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The global movement of culture and religion has brought about a serious challenge to traditional constitutional secularism. This challenge comes in the form of a political and institutional struggle against secular constitutionalism, and a two pronged assault on the very legitimacy and viability of the concept. On the one hand, constitutional secularism has been attacked as inherently hostile rather than neutral toward religion; and, on the other hand, constitutional secularism has been criticized as inevitably favouring one religion (or set of religions) over others. The contributors to this book come from a variety of different disciplines including law, anthropology, history, philosophy and political theory. They provide accounts of, and explanations for, present predicaments; critiques of contemporary institutional, political and cultural arrangements, justifications and practices; and suggestions with a view to overcoming or circumventing several of the seemingly intractable or insurmountable current controversies and deadlocks. The book is separated in to five parts. Part I provides theoretical perspectives on the present day conflicts between secularism and religion. Part II focuses on the relationship between religion, secularism and the public sphere. Part III examines the nexus between religion, secularism and women's equality. Part IV concentrates on religious perspectives on constraints on, and accommodations of, religion within the precincts of the liberal state. Finally, Part V zeroes in on conflicts between religion and secularism in specific contexts, namely education and freedom of speech.

Religion, Secularism, and Constitutional Democracy
Religion, Secularism, and Constitutional Democracy

Author: Jean L. Cohen

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0231540736

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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.

Constitutionalism and Religion
Constitutionalism and Religion

Author: Francois Venter

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2015-10-30

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1785361627

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This topical book examines how the goals of constitutionalism – good and fair government – are addressed at a time when the multi-religious composition of countries’ populations has never before been so pronounced. How should governments, courts and officials deal with this diversity? The widely accepted principle of treating others as you wish them to treat you and the universal recognition of human dignity speak against preferential treatment of any religion. Faced with severe challenges, this leads many authorities to seek refuge in secular neutrality. Set against the backdrop of globalized constitutionalism in a post-secular era, Francois Venter proposes engaged objectivity as an alternative to unachievable neutrality. Bringing together the history of church and state, the emergence of contemporary constitutionalism, constitutional comparison and the realities of globalization, this book offers a fresh perspective on the direction in which solutions to difficulties brought about by religious pluralism might be sought. Its wide-ranging comparative analyses and perspectives based on materials published in various languages provide a clear exposition of the range of religious issues with which the contemporary state is increasingly being confronted. Providing a compact but thorough historical and theoretical exposition, this book is an invaluable resource for students, constitutional scholars, judges and legal practitioners.

Religious Difference in a Secular Age
Religious Difference in a Secular Age

Author: Saba Mahmood

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-11-03

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0691153280

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How secular governance in the Middle East is making life worse—not better—for religious minorities The plight of religious minorities in the Middle East is often attributed to the failure of secularism to take root in the region. Religious Difference in a Secular Age challenges this assessment by examining four cornerstones of secularism—political and civil equality, minority rights, religious freedom, and the legal separation of private and public domains. Drawing on her extensive fieldwork in Egypt with Coptic Orthodox Christians and Bahais—religious minorities in a predominantly Muslim country—Saba Mahmood shows how modern secular governance has exacerbated religious tensions and inequalities rather than reduced them. Tracing the historical career of secular legal concepts in the colonial and postcolonial Middle East, she explores how contradictions at the very heart of political secularism have aggravated and amplified existing forms of Islamic hierarchy, bringing minority relations in Egypt to a new historical impasse. Through a close examination of Egyptian court cases and constitutional debates about minority rights, conflicts around family law, and controversies over freedom of expression, Mahmood invites us to reflect on the entwined histories of secularism in the Middle East and Europe. A provocative work of scholarship, Religious Difference in a Secular Age challenges us to rethink the promise and limits of the secular ideal of religious equality.

Religious Liberty and the Secular State
Religious Liberty and the Secular State

Author: John M. Swomley

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13:

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This book examines the political and religious context in which the Constitution and The Bill of Rights were adopted. Swomley reasons that those who wrote and adopted the Constitution and First Amendment intended a strict separation of church and state, a government that would neither aid nor impede religion. Religious Liberty and the Secular State refutes Chief Justice Rehnquist's position that the framers of the Constitution did not intend to ban all religious aid, only preferential aid. Swomley also refutes Rehnquist's claim that the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment was intended to prevent the establishment of a single national church. Swomley concludes that the Constitution was intended to prevent the federal government from establishing one or more churches and to prevent the tax support of churches on any basis. This book exposes the Supreme Court's erosion of the Establishment Clause while emphasizing the Free Exercise Clause. Swomley also explores civil religion, secular humanism, and the current counter-revolution against separation of church and state led by some religious and political conservatives who would profit from government aid. He also lists the benefits churches would realize under a secular government.