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This volume examines the knotty relationship between toleration and
religious freedom. Spanning from the early modern period to the
present day, it explores how discourses on toleration impact on
current debates about religious freedom, and challenges assumptions
about the associations between religious ideas and the law.
Bringing together scholarship from the fields of history, law,
political science, philosophy, and theology, it throws into sharp
relief the disciplinary presuppositions that have-sometimes
misleadingly-shaped our understandings of toleration and religious
freedom.
The book argues that there is in the US, Canada and UK, a general
right to conscientious exemption available to a person who objects
to any legal obligation whatsoever on the basis of a religious or
non-religious conscientious belief. The book provides a liberal
defence of this right and argues that it should be considered a
defining feature of a liberal democracy. A general right to
conscientious exemption is a legal right to conscientiously object
to any obligation imposed by law and to receive from a court an
exemption from complying with such obligation. The general right
defended in the book is not an absolute right. A court may refuse
to grant an exemption if doing so would disproportionately impact
the rights of others or the public interest. The book suggests how
the general right should be balanced against important rights, such
as non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The central focus of this edited collection is on the ever-growing
practice, in liberal states, to claim exemption from legal duties
on the basis of a conscientious objection. Traditional claims have
included objections to compulsory military draft and to the
provision of abortions. Contemporary claims include objections to
anti-discrimination law by providers of public services, such as
bakers and B&B hoteliers, who do not want to serve same-sex
couples. The book investigates the practice, both traditional and
contemporary, from three distinct perspectives: theoretical,
doctrinal (with special emphasis on UK, Canadian and US law) and
comparative. Cumulatively, the contributors provide a comprehensive
set of reflections on how the practice is to be viewed and carried
out in the context of a liberal state.
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