Law, Religion, and Freedom: Conceptualizing a Common Right

This book examines major conceptual challenges confronting freedom of religion or belief in contemporary settings.

The volume brings together chapters by leading experts from law, religious studies, and international relations, who provide perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic. At a time when the polarization of ‘culture wars’ is aggravating tensions between secular and religious views about accommodating the conscientious claims of individuals and groups, and when the right to freedom of religion itself is facing misunderstanding and erosion, the work provides welcome clarity and depth. Some chapters adopt a primarily conceptual and historical approach; others analyze particular difficulties or conflicts that have emerged in European and American jurisdictions, along with concrete applications and recommendations for the future.

The book will be a valuable resource for students, academics, and policy-makers with an interest in law, religion, and human rights.

W. Cole Durham, Jr. is the Founding Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a Note Editor of the Harvard Law Review and Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He is the immediate past President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), based in Milan, Italy, and a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion.

Javier Martínez-Torrón is Professor of Law, Complutense University Madrid, Spain, President of LIRCE, Vice-President of the Section of Canon Law and Church-State Relations of the Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, and member of the Steering Committee of ICLARS (International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies).

Donlu Thayer is a Senior Fellow at Brigham Young University’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. She retired at the end of 2019 as the Center’s Publications Director, overseeing print and electronic publications, including the International Law and Religion Headlines Service, the blog Talk About: Law and Religion, and a number of websites, including that of the Strasbourg Consortium, tracking the FoRB jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.