FACULTY LEADER
Michael Kessler
RELATED PROGRAM
Religion, Politics, and Law
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding: 2007 Survey
Mystics: Presence and Aporia
Just Law and Religion
An interactive guide to religion as it relates to society and politics around the world. Explore by:
- > Topics
- > Traditions
- > Countries
> Undergraduate Fellows
> Junior Year Abroad Network
> Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding
> Faith Complex
> Faith in Action
> Islam and the West
> Just Law and Religion
> The God Vote
> This Catholic's View
> Unorthodoxy
Global Nexus of Law and Religion
Religion and law are among the most powerful forces in the world – forces that intersect around some of the most complex and contested global issues. Religious freedom is a paramount value in many modern societies, yet that freedom must be carefully balanced with the legal and social obligations of citizenship in a diverse nation and world. Examples abound of tensions at this point of intersection: the recent Islamic veil controversy in France; debates over the role of prayer in schools in the United States; and religious challenges around the globe to the legal status of practices like proselytism, abortion, and homosexuality.
The Berkley Center’s project on The Global Nexus of Law and Religion investigates issues related to the complex interplay between law and religion. Topics include:
> Religion and the Rule of Law: Religious values and symbols are vast sources of meaning and authority, shaping individual behavior as well as cultural and political institutions, practices, and rules. Modern nation-states, charged with organizing society and ensuring the rule of law amidst diverse interests, shape the cultural and social landscape in which religious actors pursue their interests. The Berkley Center explores the religious dimensions of the rule of law, including comparative analysis of the influence of religion on legal systems in the vast array of modern nation-states and developing nations, as well as the interplay between legal legitimacy, religious authority, and religious meaning. In the US context, Berkley Center scholars investigate 1st Amendment protections for religious freedom and prohibitions against the establishment of religion, within the increasingly diverse and globalized context of the 21st century US.
> Religion and the Law of Human Rights: Religions provide a powerful vocabulary that can provide substantive justification for conceptions of human and civil rights. At times, religion is used by those in political and legal power to justify atrocities. Equally powerful is religion’s role in resisting those who use legal authority to squash human freedom. The Center investigates the religious dimensions of international law and human rights, including the religious sources for human rights protections, the legal enforcement of religious norms for behavior in diverse societies worldwide, and legal enforcements for religious freedom.
>
