Religion and Constitutional Democracy in the Context of Globalization:
The New Legal Pluralism
Professor Jean L. Cohen
Wednesdays 2-5pm
Office Hours:
Paris 1 La Sorbonne
Room
One of the greatest challenges to liberal, democratic constitutionalism in the 21st century
is posed by politicized religion. The controversy over the relation between religion, the
state and the public sphere has moved to the center of public debate and contestation all
over the world. This course will consider alternative ways in which the state and religion
in “secular” constitutional democracies are or should be articulated. One theme will be
how distinct conceptual political paradigms—liberalism, republicanism and democracy-serve as formative principles of constitutional arrangements that lead to alternative
understandings of the place of religion in democratic republics. We concentrate on the
U.S. constitutional development and contestation but we will also consider French
republicanism. Among the topics we shall address are: the contested concepts of
secularization and the secular, the changing role of religion in the public sphere, the
polemical and normative meanings of “freedom of religion”, “non-establishment”, the
separation of church and state, and “accommodation” of religion including the new legal
pluralist demands for jurisdictional prerogatives, immunities and/or exemptions from
civil laws. We will consider the impact of politicized religious organizations on state
sovereignty and on liberal democratic constitutional principles. We will also consider the
emergence of a new conceptual paradigm, “constitutional theocracy” as it pertains to
current challenges to the legitimacy of the secular state in the global context. The course
concludes by examining the issues of legal pluralism and “multicultural jurisdiction”
from two perspectives: the privatization (delegation) of state power to religious groups
and the use of civil law to regulate and secure observance of religious law. Focusing
primarily on U.S. Supreme Court decisions and some legislative acts we will explore the
tensions between the forms of religious autonomy and control over group members
permitted by the state or demanded by religious elites with the core democratic and
constitutionalist principles of personal liberty, non-discrimination and equality.
Recommended Books
Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World
C. Eisgruber, L. Sager Religious Freedom and the Constitution (Harvard, 2007)
Noah Feldman, Divided by God (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2005)
Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution 2volumes (Princeton U Press and
Oxford, 2006)
Ran Hirschl: Constitutional Theocracy
Martha Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s tradition of religious
Equality
John Witte Jr. Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment Second Edition
(Westview 2005)
Requirements
You are expected to come to all class sessions, do the readings and participate in class.
If feasible I would like you to volunteer to present some of the readings and turn in paper
from 15-15 pages in length (double spaced) at the end of class.
OUTLINE
I-II. Secularization, The Secular State, Religion in the Public Sphere
A. The Secularization Thesis
*Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of A Sociological Theory of Religion 105171 (pdf)
*Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chapter 1, “Secularization,
Enlightenment, and Modern Religion” 11-39 (pdf)
* Charles Taylor, “The Polysemy of the Secular” (pdf) from Social Research 76/4 winter
2009 1143-1168
B. The Secular
*Charles Taylor, “Modes of Secularism” (pdf) in Rajeev Bhargava, ed., Secularism and
its Critics 31-53
*Rajeev Bhargava, “What is Secularism For?”(pdf) in Bhargava, ed., Secularism and Its
Critics pp. 486-542 and
*Rajeev Bhargava, “Political Secularism” (pdf) in Dryzek, Honig and Philipps, eds., The
Oxford Handbook of Political Theory 636-655
*Gary Jacobsohn, “Secularisms in Context” pp. 21-53 in The Wheel of Law (pdf)
*Charles Taylor, “Why We need a Radical Redefinition of Secularism” in Eduardo
Mendieta and Jonathan Vanantwerpen, eds., Dialogue: Jurgen Habermas and Charles
Taylor, The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere, Col. U. Press 2011 (pdf)
Recommended
* Harold Berman, Law and Revolution 85-119, 256-269,274-294 (diff meanings of
freedom of religion)
* Hans Blumenberg, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age (pdf) 3-74, 89-121
* Max Weber, “caesaro-papism” Economy and Society Vol 2 1159-1163
*Cecile Laborde, “Politics of Laicite” Constellations 9/2 2002 pp. 167-183 (pdf)
*Jean Bauberot, “The Evolution of Secularism in France: Between Two Civil Religions”
in Cady and Hurd, Comparative Secularisms in a Global Age (Palgrave: MacMillan) 5758
C. Religion and the Public Sphere
*John Rawls, “The Idea of Public Reason, Revisited” (pdf), “The Idea of an Overlapping
Consensus”, (pdf) in Rawls, Political Liberalism
*Jurgen Habermas, “Religion in the Public Sphere” in Between Naturalism and Religion
(pdf)
*Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chapter 2, “Public and Private
Religions”, Chapter 8. “Deprivatization of Modern Religion” (pdf)
Michael J. Perry “Why Political Reliance on Religiously Grounded Morality is not
Illegitimate in a Liberal Democracy”, William & Mary Law Review, Vol. 42, pp. 663683
*Jose Casanova, “The Secular and Secularisms” in Social Research, (76/4 Winter 2009),
1049-1066
* Jose Casanova, “Religion and Politics and Gender Equality” (pdf)
*Kent Greenawalt, “On Public Reason”, 69 Chi-Kent Law Rev 699 (1994)
* Steve Shriffrin, The Religious Left and Church-State Relations, Chapter 8, “The
Politics of Liberalism” pp. 110-133
Recommended
Talal Assad, “Secularism, Nation-State, Religion, pp.81-201 (pdf) in Formations of the
Secular
Jose Casanova, “Secularization Revisited: A Reply to Talal Asad” in Scott and
Hirschkind, eds, Power of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and His Interlocutors, pp. 1130 (pdf)
* Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution, Vol. 2 Chapter 23 pp. 497-524 on
Rawls
Melissa Yates, “Rawls and Habermas on Religion in the Public Sphere”, Philosophy and
Social Criticism 33/7 Nov. 2007 (on Courseworks)
Christina Lafont, “Religion and the Public Sphere” (courseworks) Philosophy and Social
Criticism 2009 35:127
Nadia Urbinati, “”Laicite in Reverse: Mono-Religious Democracies and the Issue of
Religion in the Public Sphere” Constellations 17/1 March 2010, pp.4-21
Alfred Stepan, “The World’s Religious Systems and Democracy: Crafting the Twin
Tolerations” (pdf)
III. The U.S. and The Making of the First Amendment: Liberal, Republican,
Enlightenment and Religious Themes
Background
* John Locke A Letter Concerning Toleration http://www.constitution.org/jl/tolerati.htm
*James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments”
http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/madison_m&r_1785.html
*Thomas Jefferson, “ The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom”
http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/vaact.html
* John Witte, Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, chapters 2,3,4 pp.
23-86 (pdf)
*Kalyvas and Katznelsen, Liberal Beginnings: Chapter 4, "After the King: Thomas
Paine’s and James Madison’s Institutional Liberalism”, pp. 88-117 (pdf)
Contemporary Interpretations: The Jurisdictional and the Non-Preferentialist Reading
*M. Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience, 34-71 (on Roger Williams); 84-114 (on Madison,
the debate and two misleading theories (MAKE pdf)
*Eisgruber, Sager Religious Freedom 1-22
*Noah Feldman, Divided by God, pp. 5-56
*Steve Shiffrin, The Religious Left and Church-State Relations, Establishment Clause
Values: pp. 28-40 (MAKE pdf)
*Ahmet Kuru, “Religious Diversity and the Evolution of Passive Secularism” 74-100
(pdf) in Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion
*Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution, Vol. 2, “The Establishment Clause and
Federalism” pp. 27-39
* I. Kramnik, R. Laurence Moore, The Godless Constitution 12-66 (religious tests); 6687 (the English Roots of the secular State)
IV-V. Free Exercise: Incorporation, Targeting, Exemption/Accommodation,
Discrimination
Targeting
*Reynolds v. United States (1878)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=98+&page=
145
*Sara Song, “Polygamy in America” pp. 142-168 (pdf) in Song, Justice, Gender and the
Politics of Multiculturalism
*Martha Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience175-198 (make pdf)
* Gary Jacobsen The Wheel of Law pp. 57-72 (pdf )
* Noah Feldman, “Non-Sectarianism and Sex: The Mormons and the Marriage”
Paradigm” pp. 99-110
* Casanova, Public Religion, chapters 6 and 7
Incorporation, Exemption (Accommodation): Round One
*Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=310&page=
296
*Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=374&page=
398
* Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=406&page=
205
Recommended:
*Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience, “The Struggle over Accommodation” 115-147
* Greenawalt, Religion and The Constitution, Vol. 1., 1-34.
Discrimination/Equality: Is Religion Special?
a. The Accommodation Battle Round Two: Discrimination Among Religions
*Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=494&page=
872
*RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act)
http://www.prop1.org/rainbow/rfra.htm
*City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=521&page=
507
b. Discrimination by Religious Groups and the Equality Issue: Round Three
*NLRB v. Catholic Bishops Chicago (1978)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=440&invol=490
(((*Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983) )))
*Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
v. Amos (483 U.S. 327 (1987)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=483&invol=327
*Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission 565 U.S. (2012)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol
=10-553
Interpretations
*Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution, Vol. 1, pp. 378-395
*Nancy Rosenblum, “Amos-Religious Autonomy and the Moral Uses of Pluralism”, in
Rosenblum, ed., Obligations of citizenship and Demands of Faith, pp. 165-95 (Princeton:
2000)
*Eisgruber, Sager Religious Freedom, pp. 51-121
* Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience, pp.147-174
*Shiffrin, The Religious Left and Church/State Relations, chapter 2 pp.16-27
VI-VII. Non-Establishment
Background:
*Pierce v. Society of Sisters 268 U.S. 510 (1925)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=268&invol=510
*Denis Lacorne, Religion in America, The Bible Wars pp. 61-80
*Feldman, Divided by God, pp. 57-92, 170-181
*Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience pp. 175-179; 214-221
*Shriffrin, The Religious Left, pp. 61-81
Incorporation: from Separation to Equality
Schools
*Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=330&page=
1
*McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=333&page=203
*Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=374&invol=203
*Engel v. Vitale
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=370&invol=421
*Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=403&page=
602
*Aguilar v. Felton (1984)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=473&invol=402
* Lee v. Weissman
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=505&invol=577
*Agostini v. Felton
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgibin/getcase.pl?court=us&navby=case&vol=000&invol=
96-552
Interpretations
*Noah Feldman, Divided by God, “The Courts and the Rise of Legal Secularism” Ch. 5
(the coercion argument)
*Eisgruber, Sager Religious Freedom, pp.22-78, 198-2 (the equality argument)
*Nussbaum, Liberty of Conscience pp.224-252, 265-272 (another equality argument)
Endorsement/Neutrality: Religion in the Public Sphere
*Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=465&page=
668
*Mitchel v. Helms (1999)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=530&page=
793
Interpretations
*Noah Feldman, Divided by God, Chapters 6-8 and Conclusion
*Eisgruber, Sager Religious Freedom 121-198, 277-287
* Kuru, “Passive Secularism and the Christian Right’s Challenge (1981-2008) (on
courseworks) in Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion
Recommended:
Noah Feldman: “From Liberty to Equality: The Transformation of the Establishment
Clause” California La Review 90/3 may 2002 673
Taxes and Vouchers: State Support for Religion?
*Walz v. Tax Commission (1970)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=397&invol=664
*Bob Jones University v. U.S. (1983)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=461&page=574
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=461&invol=574
*Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=536&page=
639
Interpretations
*Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution, V ol. 2, Establishment and Fairness,
424-432.
* Steve Shriffrin, The Religious Left and Church-State Relations, 61-94
*Noah Feldman, Divided by God, Chapters 6-8 and Conclusion
*Eisgruber, Sager Religious Freedom 121-198., 277-287
* Kuru, “Passive Secularism and the Christian Right’s Challenge (1981-2008) (on
courseworks) in Secularism and State Policies Toward Religion
* Shriffrin, The Religions Left and Chruch-State Relations, chapter 3
Recommended:
Labord Separation and Establishment: also Shriffrin, Hamburger Greenawalt Nussbaum
all vs sep and e/s
XIII. April 28: Interpenetration of Public and Private
Privatization of State Powers
*Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village v. Grunet 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=512&page=
687
*Flast v. Cohen 392 U.S. 83 1968
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=392&invol=83
*Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn et. Al (April 4, 2011)
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgibin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol
=09-987
Interpretations
*Robert Cover, “The Supreme Court 1982 Term forward: Nomos and Narrative” 1983
Harvard Law Review 97/4
*Judith Resnick, “Living Their Legal Commitments: Paideic Communities, Courts and
Robert Cover” (2005) Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 757
http://digitalcommons.law.ya.e.edu/fss_papers/757
*Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution Vol. 2 Chapters 13, 14
Legal Pluralism and Multicultural Jurisdiction?
* Ayalet Schachar, “Faith in Law? Diffusing tensions between Diversity and Equality” in
Philosophy and Social Criticism vol. 36, no. 3-4
* Oonagh Reitman, “On Exit” from Minorities within Minorities
*Jean L. Cohen,
* Linda McClain, “Marriage Pluralism in the United States: of Civil and Religious
Jurisdiction and the Demands of Equal Citizenship”
*Joel Nichols, “Multiple-Tiered Marriage: Ideas and Influences from New York to the
International Community” (40 Vand. Transnatl J. I.L. 336 2007)