Intolerant Religion In A Tolerant Liberal Democracy

This book aims to examine and critically analyse the role that religion has and should have in the public and legal sphere. The main purpose of the book is to explain why religion, on the whole, should not be tolerated in a tolerant-liberal democracy and to describe exactly how it should not be tolerated – mainly by addressing legal issues. The main arguments of the book are, first, that as a general rule illiberal intolerance should not be tolerated; secondly, that there are meaningful, unique links between religion and intolerance, and between holding religious beliefs and holding intolerant views (and ultimately acting upon these views); and thirdly, that the religiosity of a legal claim is normally a reason, although not necessarily a prevailing one, not to accept that claim.

Challenging a widespread belief that religious people are politically intolerant, Marie Ann Eisenstein offers compelling evidence to the contrary. In this surprising and significant book, she thoroughly re-examines previous studies and presents new research to support her argument that there is, in fact, a positive correlation between religious belief and practice and political tolerance in the United States. Eisenstein utilizes sophisticated new analytical tools to re-evaluate earlier data and offers persuasive new statistical evidence to support her claim that religiousness and political tolerance do, indeed, mix--and that religiosity is not the threat to liberal democracy that it is often made out to be.

It's dangerous to play around with the idea of India, but a new breed of intolerant Indians is doing just that Far too many Indians today do not seem to appreciate the idea of pluralist tolerance, which forms the structural framework of Indian democracy. They see pluralism as phony and tolerant secularism as hypocritical or irrelevant to an existence centered on narrow religious, regional or ethnic identities. Extremist religious ideologies as well as violent politics of mindless forces on the right and the left have often overshadowed the idea of a tolerant society that our founding fathers dreamed of, where many views would compete for public attention and where the motto 'live and let live' would be the nation's guiding philosophy. This essay is a plea for the restoration of reason in public life. It is written from the point of view of a liberal-secular democrat, who also happens to be an agnostic.

Across European societies, pluralism is experienced in new and challenging ways. Our understanding of what it means for societies to be accepting of diversity has to therefore be revisited. This volume seeks to meet this challenge with perspectives that consider new dynamics towards tolerance, intolerance and respect.

Islam in "Liberal" Europe provides the first comprehensive overview of the political and social status of Islam and of Muslim migrants in Europe. Kai Hafez shows that although legal and political systems have made progress toward recognizing Muslims on equal terms and eliminating discriminatory practices that are in contradiction to neutral secularism, “liberal societies” often lag behind. The author argues that Islamophobic murders in Norway and Germany are only the tip of the iceberg of a deep-seated inability of many Europeans to accept cultural globalization when it hits close to home. Although there have always been anti-racist elites and networks in Europe, Hafez contends that the dominant tradition even among seemingly liberal intellectual milieus and their media is Islamophobic. This fact finds expression not only in the growing anti-Islam sentiment among right-wing populists but sometimes also in so-called enlightened forms of contemporary media, public opinion, school curricula, and Christian interfaith dialogues. In addition to offering a critical assessment of positive and negative trends in Islamic-Western relations, Hafez also engages in a theoretical debate revolving around integration, tolerance, multicultural liberalism, and modern liberal democracy. He combines political philosophy and political and social theory with current analysis on communication and the role of both religious and secular institutions in community-building in modern societies. In essence, the author debates the question of whether liberal society in Europe, in order to avoid a growing gap between integrative politics and discriminatory societies, needs a complete renewal not only of political ideologies but also of cultures and institutions.

How should liberal democratic governments respond to citizens as religious believers whose values, norms and practices might lie outside the cultural mainstream? Some of the most challenging political questions arising today focus on the adequacy of a policy of ‘live and let live’ liberal toleration in contexts where disputes about the metaphysical truth of conflicting world-views abound. Does liberal toleration fail to give all citizens their due? Do citizens of faith deserve a more robust form of accommodation from the state in the form of ‘recognition’. This issue is far from settled. Controversies over the terms of religious accommodation continue to dominate political agendas around the world. This is the first edited collection to provide a sustained examination of the politics of toleration and recognition in an age of religious pluralism. The aftermath of the events of September 11th have dramatised the urgency of this debate. It has also surfaced, nationally and globally, in disputes about terrorism, security and gender and human rights questions in relation to minority communities. This volume brings together a group of new and established scholars from the fields of law and philosophy, who all present fresh and challenging perspectives on an urgent debate. It will be indispensable reading for advanced researchers in political and legal philosophy, religious and cultural studies and related disciplines.

This book aims to examine and critically analyse the role that religion has and should have in the public and legal sphere. The main purpose of the book is to explain why religion, on the whole, should not be tolerated in a tolerant-liberal democracy and to describe exactly how it should not be tolerated – mainly by addressing legal issues. The main arguments of the book are, first, that as a general rule illiberal intolerance should not be tolerated; secondly, that there are meaningful, unique links between religion and intolerance, and between holding religious beliefs and holding intolerant views (and ultimately acting upon these views); and thirdly, that the religiosity of a legal claim is normally a reason, although not necessarily a prevailing one, not to accept that claim.

Philosophy, Religion, and the Question off Intolerance is a diverse collection of essays united by a common starting point and theme -- the awareness that intolerance is a phenomenon encountered in diverse places and circumstances and often handled with limited success. The question of toleration, together with its cultural, social, religious, and philosophical implications, are addressed by leading authorities who offer insights from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book begins with essays by three distinguished scholars, Robert Cummings Neville, J. B. Schneewind, and John McCumber. They assess the origins of intolerance, the genesis of our concept of toleration, and the outlook for the practice of tolerance in contemporary society. Beyond the opening essays, the collection is divided into three sections. The first concentrates on the relationship of religious faith and practice to toleration and inquires how religion might either impede or promote toleration. The second section deals primarily with questions regarding tolerance in the face of modern political realities. The final section discusses ethics, namely the philosophical analysis and definition of toleration as a virtue.