Synopses & Reviews
Of the many challenges facing liberal democracy, none is as powerful and pervasive today as those posed by religion. These are the challenges taken up in Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith, an exploration of the place of religion in contemporary public life.
The essays in this volume suggest that two important shifts have altered the balance between the competing obligations of citizenship and faith: the growth of religious pluralism and the escalating calls of religious groups for some measure of autonomy or recognition from democratic majorities. The authors--political theorists, philosophers, legal scholars, and social scientists--collectively argue that more room should be made for religion in today's democratic societies. Though they advocate different ways of carving out and justifying the proper bounds of "church and state" in pluralist democracies, they all write from within democratic theory and share the aim of democratic accommodation of religion. Alert to national differences in political circumstances and the particularities of constitutional and legal systems, these contributors consider the question of religious accommodation from the standpoint of institutional practices and law as well as that of normative theory.
Unique in its interdisciplinary approach and comparative focus, this volume makes a timely and much-needed intervention in current debates about religion and politics. The contributors are Nancy L. Rosenblum, Alan Wolfe, Ronald Thiemann, Michael McConnell, Graham Walker, Amy Gutmann, Kent Greenawalt, Aviam Soifer, Harry Hirsch, Gary Jacobsohn, Yael Tamir, Martha Nussbaum, and Carol Weisbrod.
Review
"A very valuable collection, making accessible in one place a number of interesting and compelling arguments about and inquiries into the relationship between religious pluralism and democracy."--Joseph M. Knippenberg, Journal of Politics
Review
"Our secular traditions and rhetoric have emerged in significant part in response to the claims of non-believers, who sought protection from the intrusions of religions. Rosenblum's anthology gives a new and thoughtful voice to believers and to the significance or value of their beliefs for democratic policies and civic engagement."--John Paul Ryan, The Law and Politics Book Review
Review
Our secular traditions and rhetoric have emerged in significant part in response to the claims of non-believers, who sought protection from the intrusions of religions. Rosenblum's anthology gives a new and thoughtful voice to believers and to the significance or value of their beliefs for democratic policies and civic engagement. John Paul Ryan
Review
A very valuable collection, making accessible in one place a number of interesting and compelling arguments about and inquiries into the relationship between religious pluralism and democracy. The Law and Politics Book Review
Synopsis
Of the many challenges facing liberal democracy, none is as powerful and pervasive today as those posed by religion. These are the challenges taken up in
Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith, an exploration of the place of religion in contemporary public life.
The essays in this volume suggest that two important shifts have altered the balance between the competing obligations of citizenship and faith: the growth of religious pluralism and the escalating calls of religious groups for some measure of autonomy or recognition from democratic majorities. The authors--political theorists, philosophers, legal scholars, and social scientists--collectively argue that more room should be made for religion in today's democratic societies. Though they advocate different ways of carving out and justifying the proper bounds of "church and state" in pluralist democracies, they all write from within democratic theory and share the aim of democratic accommodation of religion. Alert to national differences in political circumstances and the particularities of constitutional and legal systems, these contributors consider the question of religious accommodation from the standpoint of institutional practices and law as well as that of normative theory.
Unique in its interdisciplinary approach and comparative focus, this volume makes a timely and much-needed intervention in current debates about religion and politics. The contributors are Nancy L. Rosenblum, Alan Wolfe, Ronald Thiemann, Michael McConnell, Graham Walker, Amy Gutmann, Kent Greenawalt, Aviam Soifer, Harry Hirsch, Gary Jacobsohn, Yael Tamir, Martha Nussbaum, and Carol Weisbrod.
Synopsis
"This book makes a powerful and important case for a greater presence of religion in contemporary democratic life and does this while insisting that this is consistent with the liberal ideals of a pluralist society. It is an important and distinguished volume."--Isaac Kramnick, Richard J. Schwartz, Cornell University
Synopsis
"This book makes a powerful and important case for a greater presence of religion in contemporary democratic life and does this while insisting that this is consistent with the liberal ideals of a pluralist society. It is an important and distinguished volume."--Isaac Kramnick, Richard J. Schwartz, Cornell University
Synopsis
Of the many challenges facing liberal democracy, none is as powerful and pervasive today as those posed by religion. These are the challenges taken up in
Obligations of Citizenship and Demands of Faith, an exploration of the place of religion in contemporary public life.
The essays in this volume suggest that two important shifts have altered the balance between the competing obligations of citizenship and faith: the growth of religious pluralism and the escalating calls of religious groups for some measure of autonomy or recognition from democratic majorities. The authors--political theorists, philosophers, legal scholars, and social scientists--collectively argue that more room should be made for religion in today's democratic societies. Though they advocate different ways of carving out and justifying the proper bounds of "church and state" in pluralist democracies, they all write from within democratic theory and share the aim of democratic accommodation of religion. Alert to national differences in political circumstances and the particularities of constitutional and legal systems, these contributors consider the question of religious accommodation from the standpoint of institutional practices and law as well as that of normative theory.
Unique in its interdisciplinary approach and comparative focus, this volume makes a timely and much-needed intervention in current debates about religion and politics. The contributors are Nancy L. Rosenblum, Alan Wolfe, Ronald Thiemann, Michael McConnell, Graham Walker, Amy Gutmann, Kent Greenawalt, Aviam Soifer, Harry Hirsch, Gary Jacobsohn, Yael Tamir, Martha Nussbaum, and Carol Weisbrod.
Synopsis
"This book makes a powerful and important case for a greater presence of religion in contemporary democratic life and does this while insisting that this is consistent with the liberal ideals of a pluralist society. It is an important and distinguished volume."--Isaac Kramnick, Richard J. Schwartz, Cornell University
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
INTRODUCTION Pluralism, Integralism, and Political Theories of Religious Accommodation Nancy L. Rosenblum 3
ONE Civil Religion Revisited: Quiet Faith in Middle-Class America Alan Wolfe 32
TWO Public Religion: Bane or Blessing for Democracy? Ronald F. Thiemann 73
THREE Believers as Equal Citizens Michael W. McConnell 90
FOUR Illusory Pluralism, Inexorable Establishment Graham Walker 111
FIVE Religion and State in the United States: A Defense of Two-Way Protection Amy Gutmann 127
SIX Amos: Religious Autonomy and the Moral Uses of Pluralism Nancy L. Rosenblum 165
SEVEN Five Questions about Religion Judges Are Afraid to Ask Kent Greenawalt 196
EIGHT The Fullness of Time Aviam Soifer 245
NINE Let Them Eat Incidentals: RFRA, the Rehnquist Court, and Freedom of Religion H. N. Hirsch 280
TEN "By the Light of Reason": Corruption, Religious Speech, and Constitutional Essentials Gary Jeffrcy Jacobsohn 294
ELEVEN Remember Amalek: Religious Hate Speech Yael Tamir 321
TWELVE Religion and Women's Equality: The Case of India Martha C. Nussbaum 335
THIRTEEN Women and International Human Rights: Some Issues under the Bridge Carol Misbrod 403
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 427
INDEX 429