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"The worlds of law and religion increasingly collide in Parliament and the courtroom. Religious courts, the wearing of religious symbols and faith schools have given rise to increased legislation and litigation. This is the first student textbook to set out the fundamental principles and issues of law and religion in England and Wales. Offering a succinct exposition and critical analysis of the field, it explores how English law regulates the practice of religion. The textbook surveys law and religion from various perspectives, such as human rights and discrimination law, as well as considering the legal status of both religion and religious groups. Controversial and provocative questions are explored, promoting full engagementwith the key debates. The book's explanatory approach and detailed references ensure understanding and encourage independent study. Students can track key developments on the book's updating website. This innovative text is essential reading for all students in the field"--

Table talks have long been a familiar genre of writing for jurists, theologians, politicians, and novelists. In this little volume, leading law and religion scholar John Witte offers thirty sage reflections on how to thrive in law school and in the legal profession; short commentaries on controversial matters of faith, freedom, and family; pithy sermons on difficult biblical texts about law and justice; and touching tributes to a few of his fallen heroes. Most of the thirty texts gathered here were made at seminar tables, academic roundtables, editorial tables, and Eucharist tables. Cast in avuncular form, these texts probe what makes life worth living, work worth doing, history worth reading, and Scripture worth heeding. They aim to provide inspiration and edification for readers at different stages of their lives

It is a common supposition among many of our cultural elites that a constitutional "wall of separation" between church and state precludes religious believers from bringing their beliefs to bear on public matters. This is because secular liberals typically assume that their own positions on morally charged issues of public policy are the fruit of pure reason, while those of their morally conservative opponents reflect an irrational religious faith. In The Clash of Orthodoxies Robert George shows that this supposition is wrong on both counts. Challenging liberalism's claim to represent the triumph of reason, George argues that on controversial issues like abortion, stem-cell research, euthanasia, homosexuality, and same-sex marriage, traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs are actually rationally superior to secular liberal alternatives. Drawing on the natural law philosophical tradition, George demolishes various secularist pretenses, such as the notion that the very young and very old among us are somehow subpersonal and not worthy of full legal protection. He reveals the dubious person/body dualism implicit in secularist arguments, and he demonstrates the flawed reasoning behind the idea that the state ought to be neutral regarding competing understandings of the nature and value of marriage. George also revisits the controversy surrounding his participation in the First Things "End of Democracy?" symposium, in which he considered the relevance of Catholic teachings regarding the legitimacy of political regimes to the contemporary American situation. George argues that because natural law and natural rights doctrine lie at the foundation of the American republic, the judicial reading of the Constitution that has undermined democracy in order to enshrine the secularist agenda is deeply flawed. In advancing his thesis, George argues for a return to

This book provides an account and explanation of a fundamental dilemma facing secular states: the "legitimacy gap" left by the withdrawal of religion as a source of legitimacy. Legitimacy represents a particular problem for the secular state. The "secular" in all its manifestations is very much linked to the historical rise of the modern state. It should not be seen as a category that separates culture and religion from politics, but rather as one that links these different dimensions. In the first part of the book, Depaigne explains how modern constitutional law has moved away from a "substantive" legitimacy, based in particular on natural law, towards a 'procedural' legitimacy based on popular sovereignty and human rights. Depaigne examines three case studies of constitutional responses to legitimacy challenges which articulate the three main sources of "procedural" legitimacy (people, rights, and culture) in different ways: the "neutral model" (constitutions based on the "displacement of culture"); the "multicultural model" (constitutions based on diversity and pluralism); and the "asymmetric model" (constitutions based on tradition). Even if secularization can be considered European in its origin, it is best seen today as a global phenomenon, which needs to be approached by taking into account the particular cultural dimension in which it is rooted. Depaigne's detailed study shows how secularization has moved either towards "nationalization" linked to a particular national identity (as in France and, to some extent, in India)-or towards "de-secularization", whereby secularism is displaced by particular cultural norms, as in Malaysia --Front flap of book

"The return of religion to the public sphere raises various dilemmas. Rights and values, pluralism and identity, justice and efficacy, autonomy and tradition, and integration and toleration cannot always be balanced without the loss of something valuable. This volume of essays tackles such dilemmas from two perspectives. To begin, major contemporary theorists rethink the place of religion in the public sphere from republican, liberal and critical-theoretical viewpoints. Contributors then bring together theory and practice to better conceptualize and assess the latest developments in European jurisprudence with respect to religion"--

The public/private distinction is fundamental to modern theories of the family, religion and religious freedom, and state power, yet it has different salience, and is understood differently, from place to place and time to time. The volume examines the public/private distinction in the cultures and religions of the ancient Mediterranean, in the formative periods of Greece and Rome and the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Clifford Ando, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Jörg Rüpke, University of Erfurt, Germany.