Law, State and Religion in the New Europe : Debates and Dilemmas

As the new Europe takes shape, debates which had been confined to its constitutional structure are spilling over into more general areas, not least the field of law and religion. In this edited collection a team of experts seek to establish whether religion and the ‘new' Europe are in conflict. The collection looks at the question from two perspectives. Initially it considers the question from the perspective of the most influential schools of political thought. The second approach is to look at the theory and operation of the European human rights, with concluding remarks by Joseph Weiler. This title will be of interest to scholars of European constitutional and human rights law, as well as legal theorists. It will appeal to scholars in the field of law and religion. Machine generated contents note: Introduction Camil Ungureanu; Part I: 1. Religion and political liberty in Italian republics (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) Maurizio Viroli; 2. Two stories about toleration Rainer Forst; 3. Natural reason, religious conviction, and the justification of coercion in democratic societies Robert Audi; 4. The 'other' citizens: religion in a multicultural Europe Maleiha Malik; 5. Islam and the public sphere: public reason or public imagination? Chiara Bottici and Benoit Challand; Part II: 6. Law v. religion Lorenzo Zucca; 7. Unveiling the limits of tolerance: comparing the treatment of majority and minority religious symbols in the public sphere Susanna Mancini and Michel Rosenfeld; 8. Objective, critical and pluralistic? Religious education and human rights in the European public sphere Ian Leigh; 9. Religion and (in)equality in the European framework Aileen McColgan; 10. Is there a right not to be offended in one's religious beliefs? George Letsas; 11. Religious pluralism versus social cohesion? Daniel Augenstein; Part III: 12. Rights, religion and the public sphere : the European Court of Human Rights in search of a theory? Julie Ringelheim; 13. Towards a European 'approach' to religion? Camil Ungureanu. "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"-- Provided by publisher Do the Islamic veil or the crucifix have a place in schools? Should the secular state make allowances for religion? Such questions are examples of important issues for scholars and politicians and law-makers, and to answer them this book goes back to the fundamentals of European law and politics.