The Right to Wear Religious Symbols Philosophy and Article 9

by Hill, Daniel J.; Whistler, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9781137354167
• ISBN10: 113735416X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-10-02
• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot

Summary

Few issues concerning religious freedom provoke so much controversy and debate as the extent to which religious symbols should be protected in the public sphere and the workplace. This book provides the first sustained philosophical analysis of the concepts at issue in this debate, as well as covering all the major recent cases brought under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, including the landmark judgment Eweida v UK. In particular, it gives a clear presentation of the current state of the case-law, grounding it, in a unique contribution to the debate, in an investigation of its philosophical underpinnings. Particular attention is paid to different functions of the symbol and their theoretical background, with new emphasis on the role of the symbol in bearing witness to faith. This book will open up new vistas for philosophers of religion and legal theorists alike.

Author Biography

Daniel J. Hill is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. He is author of Divinity and Maximal Greatness (2005) and of Christian Philosophy: A-Z (2007). He is Secretary of the Tyndale Fellowship's Study Group in Philosophy of Religion.

Daniel Whistler is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. He is author of Schelling's Theory of Symbolic Language (2013), and co-editor of After the Postsecular and the Postmodern (2010) and Moral Powers, Fragile Beliefs (2011). He is currently editing the Edinburgh Critical History of Nineteenth-Century Theology (forthcoming).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes & Treaties
Introduction: Philosophy of Religion goes to Court
PART I: TRENDS IN ARTICLE 9(1)
1. The Manifestation Test
2. The Myth of the Necessity Test
3. The Practical Turn
PART II: UNDERSTANDING THE PRACTICAL TURN
4. The UK Government and Generally Recognized Practices
5. The Participative Symbol
6. High-level and Low-level Beliefs
Conclusion: Why Eweida Won
Bibliography
Index