Students enrolled in this seminar will engage in a close and critical examination of the complex historical and contemporary interactions between law and religion, two social forces whose relationship has shaped – and continues to shape – our modern world. This seminar will call upon students to use the study of the interaction of law and religion as a vehicle for gaining (a) a keener appreciation of the challenges of deep cultural diversity, (b) a deeper and more complex sense of the politics of “secularism” in modern secular states, and (c) a richer understanding of the nature of law. Students will examine certain influential theories in the study of religion and learn about the place of religion in the historical foundations of the common law. They will trace issues of religious difference through Canadian constitutional history, consider questions of law and religion in international and comparative perspective, and examine the structure and limits of constitutional rights through the study of doctrines of religious freedom. Seminar readings and discussions will canvass issues such as: the nature of “secularism(s)”; justifications for the constitutional protection of religion; religion, gender, and sexual equality; religion and education; religion and legal pluralism; religion and public reason; and law, religion, and morality. The seminar will be overtly interdisciplinary, putting questions of history, philosophy, and religious studies alongside legal theory and analysis.
Method of Evaluation: Primarily evaluated by a research paper (65-80%) with the remainder of the grade based on class participation, presentations and/or short written assignments.