Subject Bibliography in Law: Religion and Law

Security, Religion, and the Rule of Law argues that true, substantive, and sustainable national security is only possible through respect for the rule of law, human rights, and religious freedom. Despite the emphasis on national security and the war on terror that has preoccupied governments for over two decades, nations--and the world--seem to be more divided than ever, with a concomitant impact of increasing the risk of terrorism and religious and political violence. The national security paradigm, previously reserved primarily for foreign threats, has been turned increasingly inwards, focussing on a state's own citizens as potential threats. This is often along religious lines, threatening fundamental human freedoms. This book provides a series of critical engagements on some of the most pressing issues at the interface of religion and security today, including: proposing a deeper engagement with theology when dealing with freedom of religious belief; exploring a better understanding between domestic peace and international relations; abiding by the rule of law while countering terrorism; and developing a broader understanding of identities and of the nature of citizenship. It provides the resources to further reflect upon and address these topics, as well as stimulating further discussions on religion and security matters across a range of different disciplines. Wide-ranging case studies consider Australia, China, Europe, the Kurdish people, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations, and the United States. This book will appeal to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including international relations, law, philosophy, political science, religious studies, security studies, and theology. It will also appeal to human rights lawyers, judges, NGO researchers, governmental agency specialists, and policy makers

This book focuses on the first Supreme Court case to grant Jewish Americans race-based civil rights and highlights the complexity of White-perceived Jewish racialization in the United States. In 1982, vandals defaced Shaare Tefila Congregation in Silver Spring, Maryland, with Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi images and slogans. Because no religion-based statutes applied to the desecration, the synagogue’s lawyers were required to utilize race-based statutes. In her close study of what became the 1987 case Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, Annalise Glauz-Todrank offers a nuanced analysis of the ways in which the members of the congregation, their lawyers, and the vandals’ lawyers used the concepts of race and religion to argue their case. Judging Jewish Identity in the United States understands “race” and “religion” as White, Christian categories and illustrates how they have been accepted and internalized in the American environment. Glauz-Todrank examines how the judges went through a process of constructing the legal meaning of Jewish identity. Likewise, she narrates how the congregants responded to the vandalism, were relieved by the cleanup day that incorporated their neighbors, and pursued the case as “religious” Jewish Americans.

What constitutes the core values, tenets, cultural, historic, and ideological parameters of secularism in international contexts? In twelve chapters, this edited work examines current tensions in liberal secular states where myriad rights and freedoms compete regarding education, healthcare, end-of-life choices, clothing, sexual orientation, reproduction, and minority interests. It explores the legal complexity of defining a 'religion' through judicial decisions and scrutinises Christianity, Hinduism and Islam's relative success in accommodating religious pluralism. Part One explores the religious practice and persecution nexus, COVID-19's effect on religious freedom, religious education, burqas/headscarves, and religious culture in civil law. Part Two explores the constitutional principle of secularism in Member States of the Council of Europe, US Religious Clauses, and religious freedom in South Africa, UK, Australia, and India

In International Law Afloat on a Sea of World Religions, the Rev. Dr. George J. Gatgounis, Esq., examines common denominators in the major religions that undergird state policies. Confucianism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam are based on worldviews that bear upon the formation of law, including international law. Gatgounis, both a religious and constitutional scholar, provides extensive footnotes to support his research and hope for the future.

In an age of intolerance where religious persecution is widespread, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan explores how societies can promote freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental right of citizens. Examining the extent of religious persecution throughout the world, this cutting-edge book explores mechanisms to address religious intolerance and develop religious freedom, outlining the necessary factors to measure progress on the protection of this fundamental human right. Chapters explore how freedom of religion or belief can be institutionalized in dispositions, laws, and policies through efforts which limit negative depictions of the religious (or non-religious) Other in public discourse. Rieffer-Flanagan demonstrates how reforms that enhance the ability of civil society actors to operate can also promote freedom of religion or belief, and how states and IGOs can support these efforts.

Canadian public schools have long been entrusted with socializing children. Yet this duty can rest uneasily alongside religious diversity questions. Grounding its analysis in three seminal Supreme Court cases, Religious Diversity in Canadian Public Schools reveals complex legal processes that compress multidimensional conversations into an oppositional format and exclude the voices of children themselves. Dia Dabby contends that schools are in fact microsystems with the power to construct their own rules and relationships. This compelling work encourages a deeper conversation on how religion is mediated through public schools, inviting a critical reassessment of the role of law in education.

Building on the highly-regarded first edition, this is a comprehensive study of the relationship between law and religion in English law. Against a backdrop of an increasingly religiously and culturally diverse country, it represents a vital legal analysis of fundamental questions regarding individual and group rights, and how the political and legal systems regard and engage with such diversity. Questions about equality, non-discrimination, tolerance, and social cohesion are of great concern both in the public policy, and legal spheres. At a practical level, the debates range from the issue of whether businesses such as shops and hotels can decline to provide services on religious grounds, through clashes between the school curriculum and faith, to requests for employment leave on grounds of religion. Law, Rights, and Religion examines the legal principles underlying religious rights, and the application of issues of faith within the legal system. Framed by the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, and the EC Equality Directives, it delves into specific areas of legal practice, including education, employment, immigration, family law, criminal law, and terrorism.

Much has been written about the law as it affects new and minority religions, but relatively little has been written about how such religions react to the law. This book presents a wide variety of responses by minority religions to the legal environments within which they find themselves. An international panel of experts offer examples from North America, Europe and Asia demonstrating how religions with relatively little status may resort to violence or passive acceptance of the law; how they may change their beliefs or practices in order to be in compliance with the law; or how they may resort to the law itself in order to change their legal standing, sometimes by forging alliances with those with more power or authority to achieve their goals. The volume concludes by applying theoretical insights from sociological studies of law, religion, and social movements to the variety of responses. The first systematic collection focussing on how minority religions respond to efforts at social control by various governmental agents, this book provides a vital reference for scholars of Religion and the Law, New Religious Movements, Minority Religions and the Sociology of Religion.

The relationship between law and religion is evident throughout history. They have never been completely independent from each other. There is no doubt that religion has played an important role in providing the underlying values of modern laws, in setting the terms of the relationship between the individual and the state and in demanding a space for the variety of intermediate institutions which stand between individuals and the state. However, the relationships between law and religion and the state and religious institutions differ significantly from one modern state to another. There is not one liberalism but many. This work brings together reflections upon the relationship between religion and the law from the perspectives of different sub-traditions within the broader liberal project and in light of some contemporary problems in the accommodation of religious and secular authority.

Offering extensive international and comparative law materials, as well as discussion of key United States First Amendment cases, international experts Durham and Scharffs bring vision and scope to the study of Law and Religion. The text and its continually updated online Supplement support courses on Law and Religion, Church and State, International Human Rights, Comparative Constitutional Law, and First Amendment. New to the Second Edition: recent U.S. court cases and legislative moves dealing with religion in conflict with anti- discrimination norms, including immigration; same-sex marriage; and conscientious objection by religious organizations, government officials, pharmacies, businesses (including "wedding vendors") to providing products, services, and insurance benefits in violation of religious beliefs. [Includes] landmark religion cases in Canada, Europe, and Asia involving such issues as women's rights, law school accreditation, display of religious symbols and wearing of face coverings in public (including schools); persecution of religious minorities, including prosecution for blasphemy; discussion of new levels of and responses to religious extremism [and] discussions across multiple jurisdictions of such issues as education, tax, government regulation of religion, and women's issues, such as genital cutting (worldwide, including U.S.) and divorce ("triple talaq" in India, Shari'a arbitration in Canada, and Shari'a councils in the U.K.).