Review by Choice Review
The book explores the complex relationships among religion, laws, and public policies in liberal democracies. The question at the heart of the book: how should a liberal, constitutional democracy with diverse citizens of many faiths address religion and religious freedom? Contributors examine complex concepts such as religious freedom, legal pluralism, state sovereignty, minimal secularism, non-establishment, and gender equality. The book explores these ideas from the view of normative political theory, legal studies, history, and sociology, focusing primarily on the US and Europe. The chapters in part 1 look at the importance of the discourses on religious freedom and international human rights. Part 2 discusses whether the appropriate arrangement for religion in a liberal democracy is non-establishment and/or some version of secularism. Part 3 explores the relationships between public religion and liberal democracy from the view of normative political theory. The last section looks at the consequences of religious groups' seeking legal pluralism within a liberal democracy. Many of the authors argue that there is nothing special about religion that justifies exceptional treatment or extensive accommodation. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty. --Barb Rieffer Flanagan, Central Washington University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
