I. What is Religious Freedom? Philosophical Foundations and Contemporary Debates
1. Foundations of Religious Toleration (Jan. 21)
Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
2. Religious Liberty in the Founding of the United States (Jan. 26)
Jefferson, The Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom (1786); Letter to Danbury
Baptists (1802); Madison, Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious
Assessments (1785)
II. Constitutional Configurations of Religious Freedom and Religious Faith: separation, laicité, secularism, concord, theological state, identity-based/balance-focused
3. Models of Religion-State Relationships (Jan. 28)
Mancini and Rosenfeld, Unveiling the Limits of Tolerance
4. American v. European Conceptions of Religious Liberty (Feb. 2)
III. Public Exemptions for (Private?) Religious Claims
5. History of Religious Accommodations in the United States (Feb. 4)
Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience, pp. 115-20, 135-74
6. United States: Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Hobby Lobby (Feb. 9)
Hobby Lobby v. Burwell (U.S.S.C. 2014)
7. Italy (Feb. 11)
Faraguna, Regulating Religion in Italy; Anello, The “Anti-Mosques” Law of Lombardy and
Religious Freedom in Italy
8. Polygamy (Feb. 16)
Nussbaum, pp. 175-198; Sarla Mugdal v. India
9. Conscientious Objection from Military Service (Feb. 18)
Su, Judging Religious Sincerity
Mock Trial (Feb. 23, 25, March 1, 3): Religious liberty vs. children’s rights: can a European state categorically ban non-therapeutic circumcision?
10 – 11. Reading specified in handout
12 – 13. Oral argument
IV. Religious Symbols and Expression in the Public Sphere
14. Public Displays of Religion in the U.S. (Mar. 8)
Nussbaum, pp. 252- 272
15. The Crucifix in Public Schools: Germany, Italy, European Court of Human Rights (Mar. 10)
Lautsi v. Italy (ECtHR 2011); Kruzifix-decision (BVerfGE 93, 1)
16-17. Religious Dress: “European values” and devout Muslim women (Mar. 15, 17)
Leyla Şahin v. Turkey (ECtHR 2005) (cf. Ewaida and Others v. U.K. (ECtHR 2013));
Mancini, Patriarchy as the exclusive domain of the Other
NO CLASS MARCH 22, 24; THEN SPRING BREAK
V. Religion in Public Schools
18. Prayers and Pledges in U.S. Public Schools (Apr. 5)
Nussbaum, pp. 224-252, 306-334
19. Religious Instruction: U.S. (Apr. 7)
McCullum v. Board of Education (1948)
Friday, April 8 mega make-up!!
20. Religious Instruction: Italy
21. Religious Instruction: France, Spain, UK, Germany, Canada, Bosnia…
Hunter-Hénin, Law, Religious Freedoms and Education in Europe; Custos, Secularism in
French Public Schools
VI. Religious Identity, Family Values, Sexual Morality and Gender Equality
22. Religion and Reproductive Freedom (Apr. 12)
A.B.C. v. Ireland (ECtHR); Little Sisters v. Burwell
NO CLASS APRIL 14
23. Religion and LGBT rights (Apr. 19 + lunch)
Issacson, Are Same-Sex Marriages a Threat to Religious Liberty?; Case of Ewaida and
Others v. UK (ECtHR 2013); Obergefell v. Hodges (U.S.S.C. 2015); Blankenhorn, How My View of
Gay Marriage Changed
24. Women’s autonomy and religious group rights (Apr. 21 + lunch)
Shachar, Women, State and the Problem of Gender
VII. Religion and the Politics of Democratic Societies
25. Religious Claims in Democratic Public Debate I (Apr. 26)
Rawls, The Idea of Public Reason Revisited; Habermas, Religion in the Public Sphere; Nussbaum,
ch. 9; Urbinati, Laïcité in Reverse: Mono-Religious Democracies and the Issue of Religion in
the Public Sphere; Galeotti, Toleration as Recognition
|