Description
Book SynopsisReligious Ideas in Liberal Democratic States adds new context to the ongoing debate over the scope of religious freedom, drawing from a variety of perspectives to discuss the meaning of religion itself within a democratic state. This book argues that categorizing religion as a solely private affair is too narrow an interpretation and questions whether ideas like freedom, human dignity, and equality can be truly actualized in a neutral and secular state. Contributors explore the impact of religion, acknowledged or not, on legislation, human rights, and group rights through legal, historical, and sociological lenses. Scholars of constitutional law, jurisprudence, international law, and political science will find this book particularly useful.
Table of ContentsChapter 1: You Can’t Please Everyone: The Secular State, the Liberal State, the Neutral State by Russell Blackford
Chapter 2: Group Rights, Individual Rights, and the Fundamentalist Challenge by Paul Cliteur
Chapter 3: Insults to Equality: An Egalitarian Analysis of Respect for Religious Feelings by Austin Dacey
Chapter 4: State (Non-)Neutrality and Conceptions of Religious Freedom by Alex Deagon
Chapter 5: Dignity in Life and Death by Jasper Doomen
Chapter 6: Blasphemy’s History and the Denial of Neutrality by David Nash
Chapter 7: Religious Freedom as Moral Freedom by Michael Perry
Chapter 8: Realizing the Freedom of Religion or Belief Equally: The Case of Blasphemy in the Liberal Democratic State by Mirjam van Schaik
Chapter 9: Should the Courts Accommodate Religion in the Workplace? The Secular Nature of Europe’s Legal Order and the Role of Supranational Courts by Carla Zoethout
