Religious Ideas in Liberal Democratic States

This edited volume is focused on the issue of freedom of religion from various perspectives, inquiring whether freedom of religion may be realized non-neutrally, and whether a secular state in particular may accomplish this goal.

Religious 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.

Chapter 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