Transforming Religious Liberties
A New Theory of Religious Rights for National and International Legal Systems

Proposes a new theoretical approach to religious liberty that both transcends and transforms current approaches to law and religion.

S. I. Strong (Author)

9781316631294, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 December 2018

383 pages
23 x 15.3 x 2.3 cm, 0.54 kg

'She has written a book well worth a read, which aims to accomplish something few scholars take the time to do: not only question the way in which the paradigm of freedom of religion is structured, but actually restructure it to fit a cross-border, cross-discipline, and cross-cultural audience. The renaissance of universality provides a challenge to the era of relativism, and Strong has done a fine job in writing such a piece of work.' Emma Ahlm, Journal of Law and Religion

Religious liberties are at the centre of many debates on how liberal democratic societies can accommodate diversity. This book considers the interaction between law and religion from a broad international, comparative and jurisprudential perspective and proposes a new theoretical approach to religious liberty that both transcends and transforms current approaches to religious rights. Not only does the discussion draw on the work of a range of legal and political philosophers including John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin and John Finnis, it also tests the validity of the various proposals against actual 'hard cases' derived from multiple jurisdictions. In so doing, the analysis overcomes longstanding challenges to existing religious rights regimes and identifies a new theoretical paradigm that specifically addresses the challenges associated with religiously pluralist societies. Through this type of interdisciplinary analysis, the book identifies a religio-legal system that both religious and non-religious people can support.

1. Introduction
2. Current approaches to religious rights
3. The religiously orientated original position: presumptions and framework
4. Purely self-regarding practices: religious acts with no effect on others or society
5. Complex self-regarding practices: religious acts with an effect on others or society
6. False other-regarding practices: religious directions to non-religious persons with no effect on others or society
7. True other-regarding practices: religious directions to non-religious persons with an effect on others or society
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], Christian spirituality & religious experience [HRCS], Religious issues & debates [HRAM]