Legalizing Religion

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

Can Christianity exist without religious rites or legal rights? Are baptism and communion required for the church to exist? What about the freedom of religion and the right to assemble? Building on what he has written in other volumes of the “Close Your Church for Good” series, Jeremy Myers argues that our traditions of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and our dependence on the legal rights from the government, have actually hindered the growth and development of the church. Dying to Religion and Empire is a call to leave behind the comfortable religion we know and follow Jesus into the uncertain and wild ways of radical discipleship. To rise and live in the reality of God’s Kingdom, we must first die to religion and empire. This revised and updated book now includes discussion questions, perfect for a small group setting. Books in the “Close Your Church for Good” series: Preface: Skeleton Church Volume 1: The Death and Resurrection of the Church Volume 2: Put Service Back into the Church Service Volume 3: Dying to Religion and Empire Volume 4: Church is More than Bodies, Bucks, & Bricks Volume 5: Cruciform Pastoral Leadership

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Regulation of minority faiths varies greatly around the globe, with some countries allowing them considerable freedom to exist, recruit new members, raise money, and use public facilities. Other societies are more closed to the presence of such groups, either native or foreign. The pattern of reactions to minority religious movements is not easily explained by reference to usual terms. Knowledge of historical factors in the various countries, coupled with a use of selected theories from sociology of religion and sociology of law, can assist understanding of the situation in various countries. Explicating these complex relationships is the challenge of this volume. Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe presents, through the inclusion of contributions by international scholars, a global examination of how a number of contemporary societies are regulating religious groups. It focuses on legal efforts to exert social control over such groups, especially through court cases, but also with selected major legislative attempts to regulate them. As such, this analysis falls within the broad area of the sociology of social control and more specifically, legal social control, a topic of great interest when studying how contemporary societies attempt to maintain social order. The factual details about social and legal developments in societies where religion has been defined as problematic include Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americ

The relationship between religion and the law is a hot-button topic in America, with the courts, Congress, journalists, and others engaging in animated debates on what influence, if any, the former should have on the latter. Many of these discussions are dominated by the legal perspective, which views religion as a threat to the law; it is rare to hear how various religions in America view American law, even though most religions have distinct views on law. In Faith and Law, legal scholars from sixteen different religious traditions contend that religious discourse has an important function in the making, practice, and adjudication of American law, not least because our laws rest upon a framework of religious values. The book includes faiths that have traditionally had an impact on American law, as well as new immigrant faiths that are likely to have a growing influence. Each contributor describes how his or her tradition views law and addresses one legal issue from that perspective. Topics include abortion, gay rights, euthanasia, immigrant rights, and blasphemy and free speech.

This volume shows how and why legal empowerment is important for those exercising their religious rights under various jurisdictions, in conditions of legal pluralism. At the same time, it also questions the thesis that as societies become more modern, they also become less religious. The authors look beyond the rule of law orthodoxy in their consideration of the freedom of religion as a human right and place this discussion in a more plurality-sensitive context. The book sheds more light on the informal and/or customary mechanisms that explain the limited impact of law on individuals and groups, especially in non-Western societies. The focus is on discussing how religion and the exercise of religious rights may or may not empower individuals and social groups and improve access to human rights in general. This book is important reading for academics and practitioners of law and religion, religious rights, religious diversity and cultural difference, as well as NGOs, policy makers, lawyers and advocates at multicultural jurisdictions. It offers a contemporary take on comparative legal studies, with a distinct focus on religion as an identity marker.