State Neutrality
The Sacred, the Secular and Equality Law

O'Halloran provides a comparative evaluation of contemporary law as it relates to religion in six developed nations.

Kerry O'Halloran (Author)

9781108722995, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 August 2022

527 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.7 kg

The state is legally required to be neutral towards religion, but in many countries it is increasingly anything but. This book conducts a comparative legal analysis of the church–state relationship within and between western countries – including the USA, France and Israel – that are key players in international and domestic dynamics in which religion and religious conflict take centre stage. It analyses how government accommodates diversity, how policies of multiculturalism and pluralism translate into legislation, the extent to which they address matters of religion and belief and what pattern of related issues then come before the courts. Finally, it considers how civil society and democracy in general can maintain a balance between the interests of those of different religions and beliefs and those of none. In this illuminating study, Kerry O'Halloran shows how the relationship between religion and government affects civil society and the functioning of democracy in North America and Europe.

Part I. Background: 1. State neutrality: background history, concepts, principle
2. Civil society: pluralism, multiculturalism and the Church/State interface
3. International treaties, conventions, protocols and the ECtHR
Part II. The Benchmark Of State Neutrality: Contrasting Applications: 4. The US and the church/state wall
5. Canada and Bijuralism
6. England and the established church
7. France and Laïcité
8. Germany and the Vaterland
9. Israel: Halakha and Zionism
Part III. Towards a More Stable Civil Society: 10. Themes of Jurisdictional Commonality and Difference
11. State neutrality: a work in progress? Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Comparative law [LAM], Law [L], Comparative politics [JPB], Political science & theory [JPA]