The Conscience Wars
Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality

Explores the multifaceted debate on the interconnection between conscientious objections, religious liberty, and the equality of women and sexual minorities.

Susanna Mancini (Edited by), Michel Rosenfeld (Edited by)

9781316625828, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 August 2019

513 pages, 2 b/w illus.
23 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.5 kg

'An illuminating and compelling collection of essays addressing some of the quandaries of contemporary constitutional democracies: whereas historically claims of freedom of conscience have meant exemption or freedom from state-imposed obligations, such as military service, in many contemporary societies the 'conscience wars' require the state to intervene to protect the rights of objectors to engage or not to in the performance of certain acts, services, etc. How is the liberal state in pluralist societies to achieve justice for all? By discriminating positively to protect freedom of religious conscience? Or ignoring such claims? Or by sharply separating the public from the private? A great guide to questions and puzzles which affect us all as citizens and residents of a multi-plural religious universe.' Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Yale University, Connecticut, and Columbia Law School, New York

In this work, Professors Mancini and Rosenfeld have brought together an impressive group of authors to provide a comprehensive analysis on the greater demand for religions exemptions to government mandates. Traditional religious conscientious objection cases, such as refusal to salute the flag or to serve in the military during war, had a diffused effect throughout society. In sharp contrast, these authors argue that today's most notorious objections impinge on the rights of others, targeting practices like abortion, LGTBQ adoption, and same-sex marriage. The dramatic expansion of conscientious objection claims have revolutionized the battle between religious traditionalists and secular civil libertarians, raising novel political, legal, constitutional and philosophical challenges. Highlighting the intersection between conscientious objections, religious liberty, and the equality of women and sexual minorities, this volume showcases this political debate and the principal jurisprudence from different parts of the world and emphasizes the little known international social movements that compete globally to alter the debate's terms.

Introduction: the new generation of conscience objections in legal, political and cultural context Susanna Mancini and Michel Rosenfeld
Part I. Conscientious Objection in a Constitutional Democracy: Theoretical Perspectives: 1. Conscience and its claims: a philosophical history of conscientious objection Julie Saada and Mark Antaki
2. The conscience wars in historical and philosophical perspective: the clash between religious absolutes and democratic pluralism Michel Rosenfeld
3. Conscientious objections Bernard Schlink
4. Egalitarian justice and religious exemptions Cécile Laborde
5. Is there a right to conscientious objection? Lorenzo Zucca
6. Affect and the theo-political economy of the right to freedom of 'thought, conscience and religion' Marinos Diamantides
Part II. Conscientious Objection or Culture Wars? The Changing Discourse of Religious Liberty Claims: 7. Conscience wars in transnational perspective: religious liberty, third-party harm, and pluralism Reva Siegel and Douglas NeJaime
8. Transatlantic conversations: the emergence of society-protective anti-abortion arguments in the United States, Europe and Russia Susanna Mancini and Kristina Stoeckl
9. The geopolitics of transnational law and religion: wars of conscience and the framing effects of law as a social institution Pasquale Annicchino
Part III. Objecting to Anti-Discrimination Laws in the Name of Mainstream Religious Convictions: Striking a Balance between Freedom and Equality: 10. Objections to antidiscrimination in the name of conscience or religion: a conflicting rights approach Eva Brems
11. The role of the European Court of Human Rights in adjudicating religious exception claims Helen Keller and Corina Heri
12. When do religious accommodations burden others? Nelson Tebbe, Micah Schwartzman and Richard Schragger
Part IV. Conscience, Accommodation and its Harms: Children, Women and Sexual Minorities: 13. The missing children in elite legal scholarship Marci A. Hamilton
14. Religious refusals and reproductive rights: claims of conscience as discrimination and shaming Louise Melling
15. Seeking to square the circle: a sustainable conscientious objection in reproductive healthcare Emmanuelle Bribosia and Isabelle Rorive
16. Marriage registrars, same sex relationships, and religious discrimination in the European Court of Human Rights Christopher McCrudden
Part V. Concluding Perspectives on the Conscience Wars: 17. Mission still impossible Stanley Fish
18. The politics of religion: democracy and the conscience wars Robert Post.

Subject Areas: Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC], Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Law [L], Human rights [JPVH], Political science & theory [JPA], Religion & beliefs [HR], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy [HP]