Religion And Culture In Canadian Family Law

Law and Religious Pluralism in Canada seeks to elucidate the complex and often uneasy relationship between law and religion in democracies committed both to equal citizenship and religious pluralism. Leading socio-legal scholars consider the role of religious values in public decision making, government support for religious practices, and the restriction and accommodation by government of minority religious practices. They examine such current issues as the legal recognition of sharia arbitration, the re-definition of civil marriage, and the accommodation of religious practice in the public sphere.

In recent years, law and religion scholarship in Canada has grown significantly. This distinctive collection of 18 papers addresses, from a variety of angles, the jurisdiction and the limits of law ¿ an important but often overlooked aspect of settling the boundaries of church and state, religion and law. The volume draws the insights of 19 authoritative contributors of diverse background and examines changes in the role and meaning of religion in society, the dimensions of law and religion and finally, the conflicts between freedom of religion and other freedoms as looked upon as fundamental rights of a liberal society.

Is redefining marriage to include same-sex unions simply an act of fairness to gays and lesbians - another step in the evolution to a just society? Or is it a hastily conceived social experiment that will undermine human rights, deflecting marriage from the support of children to the mere affirmation of sexual commitment between adults? central questions: How did Canada come to the point of proposing a redefinition of marriage? Where would redefinition take Canadian society? Do the Charter and equality rights mandate exchanging an opposite-sex institution for one built on the union of two persons? The contributors ask Canadians to pause for reflection and take a closer look at the arguments for and against redefinition of marriage. They implore us to examine the effects of marriage on children, the law, freedom of speech and religion, and society as a whole. science, religion, and culture and include, among others, Margaret Somerville, Ted Morton, F.C. DeCoste, Katherine Young, and Conservative Party MP John McKay.

Groundbreaking theoretical and legal approaches to resolving conflicts between gender equality and cultural practices

Bogdan.

This book focuses on Islamic family law as interpreted and applied by judges in Europe, Australia and North America. It uses court transcriptions and observations to discuss how the most contentious marriage-related issues - consent and age of spouses, dower, polygamy, and divorce - are adjudicated. The solutions proposed by different legal systems are reviewed , and some broader questions are addressed: how Islamic principles are harmonized with norms based on gender equality, how parties bargain strategically in and out of court, and how Muslim diasporas align their Islamic worldview with a Western normative narrative.

Family law is a site of social conflict and the erasure of non-traditional families. This book explores how conservative religious and progressive queer groups can cooperatively work together to expand family law's recognition beyond the traditional state-sponsored family. This book also looks to future arenas of queer and religious political cooperation beyond family law.