Current Issues in Law and Religion

This volume focuses on issues that have only recently come to the forefront of the discipline such as freedom from religion, ordination of homosexuals, apostasy, security and fundamentalism, issues that are linked to the common themes of secularism and globalization. Although these subjects are not new to the academic debate, they have become prominent in law and religion circles as a result of recent and rapid changes in society. The essays in this volume present multiple points of view, facilitate scholars in understanding this evolving discipline and act as a stimulus for further research.This collection gives the reader a sense of the key topics and current debates in law and religion and is of interest to law, politics, human rights, and religion scholars.

Autorentext

Silvio Ferrari is Professor of Law and Religion, University of Milan and Honorary President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Italy. Rinaldo Cristofori currently holds a Post Doc position at the University of Milan, Italy and is working on his monograph at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, USA.

Inhalt

Contents: Introduction, Rinaldo Christofori; Part I Why Religion, Why Now? Political and Legal Perspectives: Religious revivals as a product and as a tool of globalization, Olivier Roy; Religious freedom, democracy and international human rights, John Witte Jr and M. Christian Green. Part II Law, Religion and Social Conflicts: The global rise of religious nationalism, Mark Juergensmeyer; 'The sacred conspiracy': religion, nationalism, and the crisis of internationalism, Nathaniel Berman; The threat of religious extremism, Amos N. Guiora; Security, religious autonomy, and the good society, Brett G. Scharffs; Globalization, postmodernism and proselytism, Silvio Ferrari; Apostasy and freedom to change religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea; The curious persistence of blasphemy, Jeremy Patrick. Part III Legal responses to Religious Issues: Cultural diversity: challenge and accommodation, Roger Ballard, Alessandro Ferrari, Ralph Grillo, André J. Hoekema, Marcel Maussen and Prakash Shah; Sharia in Europe: perspectives of segregation, assimilation or integration for European Muslims?, Mathias Rohe; Religious courts' recognition claims: two qualitatively distinct narratives, Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens; Major controversies involving new religious movements, James T. Richardson; Scientology, P. Edge. Part IV Law, Religion and Gender Issues: Is multiculturalism bad for women?, Susan Moller Okin; Keeping faith: reconciling women's human rights and religion, Madhavi Sunder; On the tension between sex equality and religious freedom, Cass R. Sunstein; The unhappy marriage of religion and politics: problems and pitfalls for gender equality, Shahrah Razavi and Anne Jenichen. Part V Human Rights within Religious Organizations?: Justifications for religious autonomy, Norman Doe and Anthony Jeremy; The recurring paradox of groups in the liberal state, Frederick Mark Gedicks; The right to autonomy in religious affairs: a comparative view, W. Cole Durham; Homophobic speech, e