This book examines the question of how the mode of state–religion identification affects the state’s scope for compliance with human rights law. It presents a human rights-based assessment of the various modes of state–religion identification and of the various forms of state practice that surround and characterize these different state–religion models. A close assessment of norms of human rights law substantiates that, although human rights law on the face of it is seemingly neutral to the issue of state–religion identification, legal principles can be extrapolated that have a profound bearing on the question of legitimacy of the possible diverse relationships that may exist between the state and religion. A range of thematic case studies on, among other issues, Establishment of Religion & the ‘Equal Religious Rights of Others’, Religion & Freedom of Expression, Religion & Political Rights, Religion & Educational Rights, Religion & Freedom of Association and Religion & Equal Employment Opportunities, demonstrates that existing regimes of positive state identification with religion are not devoid of forms of institutionalised discrimination and de facto practices of discrimination on grounds of religion or belief (or lack thereof). At the same time, it is observed by the author that in some secular or separationist states the ideals of state secularism and separationism have come to be considered ends in themselves. This has given rise to situations where the principles of secularism and separationism are construed so as to impose illegitimate limits on the activities of religions or illegitimate limits on the individual manifestation of certain beliefs. This book makes a case for the recognition of a state duty to remain impartial with respect to religion or belief in all regards so as to comply with people’s fundamental right to be governed, at all times, in a religiously neutral manner.

Preparing pupils to engage with religious and cultural heterogeneity is increasingly seen as a key task for school education. This book presents research on religion-related dialogue in European schools and addresses the complex intersection of various factors supporting or hindering it. The volume offers findings of the international research project ‘Religion and Dialogue in modern societies’ (ReDi). The chapters present analyses of school case studies in five European cities London (England), Hamburg and Duisburg (Germany), Stockholm (Sweden), and Stavanger (Norway), to empirically answer the question: What are possibilities and limitations of religion-related dialogue in schools? Possibilities and Limitations of Religion-Related Dialogue in Schools in Europe will be a key resource for practioners and researchers of religious education, education studies, educational research, religious studies, and sociology. It was originally published as a special issue of the Religion & Education.

Examines the meaning of Jewish politics in Israel In one of the first books to ask head-on what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state, Yaacov Yadgar delves into what the designation “Jewish” amounts to in the context of the sovereign nation-state, and what it means for the politics of the state to be identified as Jewish. The volume interrogates the tension between the notion of Israel as a Jewish state—one whose very character is informed by Judaism—and the notion of Israel as a “state of the Jews,” with the sole criterion the maintenance of a demographically Jewish majority, whatever the character of that majority’s Jewishness might or might not be. The volume also examines Zionism’s relationship to Judaism. It provocatively questions whether the Christian notion of supersessionism, the idea that the Christian Church has superseded the nation of Israel in God’s eyes and that Christians are now the true People of God, may now be applied to Zionism, with Zionism understood by some to have taken over the place of traditional Judaism, rendering the actual Jewish religion superfluous. To Be a Jewish State deeply informs the democratic crisis in Israel, discussing whether Jewish laws put into effect by the state or political moves made to ensure a Jewish majority can be seen as undermining democracy. In our current era, with nationalism resurging, To Be a Jewish State urges a critical re-assessment of the very meaning of modern Jewish identity.