I. What is Religious Freedom? Philosophical Foundations and Contemporary Debates
1. Foundations of Religious Toleration
Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)
2. Religious Liberty in the Founding of the United States
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
Mancini and Rosenfeld, Unveiling the Limits of Tolerance
4. Comparative Conceptions of Religious Liberty
Individual mini-research projects
III. Public Accommodations for Religious Claims
5. History of Religious Accommodations in the United States
Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience, pp. 115-20, 135-74
6. United States: Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby v. Burwell (U.S.S.C. 2014)
7. Italy
Faraguna, Regulating Religion in Italy; Anello, The “Anti-Mosques” Law of Lombardy and
Religious Freedom in Italy
8. Family Law
Nussbaum, pp. 175-198; Sarla Mugdal v. India
9. Conscientious Objection from Military Service
Su, Judging Religious Sincerity
Mock Trial : 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.
Nussbaum, pp. 252- 272
15. The Crucifix in Public Schools: Germany, Italy, European Court of Human Rights
Lautsi v. Italy (ECtHR 2011); Kruzifix-decision (BVerfGE 93, 1)
16-17. Religious Dress: “European values” and devout Muslim women
Leyla Şahin v. Turkey (ECtHR 2005) (cf. Ewaida and Others v. U.K. (ECtHR 2013));
Mancini, Patriarchy as the exclusive domain of the Other
V. Religion in Public Schools
18. Prayers and Pledges in U.S. Public Schools
Nussbaum, pp. 224-252, 306-334
19. Religious Instruction: U.S.
McCullum v. Board of Education (1948)
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
A.B.C. v. Ireland (ECtHR); Little Sisters v. Burwell
23. Religion and LGBT rights
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 - 25. Women’s autonomy and religious group rights
Shachar, Women, State and the Problem of Gender
VII. Religion and the Politics of Democratic Societies
26. Religious Claims in Democratic Public Debate I
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
27. Research Presentations
28. Final Review
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