Essays on Culture, Religion and Rights

Peter Jones

Culture and religion are overlapping phenomena: cultures are normally understood to subsume religions, and religions are very often central to cultures. The two are particularly closely associated when we focus on the kinds of difference that generate issues for public policy.

The world has always been culturally and religiously diverse, but recent movements of population have intensified the internal diversity of societies. That increased diversity has presented societies with a number of pressing questions. How much should cultural differences matter? Can they and should they be treated impartially? Should they receive equal recognition and what sort of recognition might that be? Are cultural and religious differences at odds with human rights thinking or do universal human rights demand respect for those differences? When the demands of a religious faith clash with those of a society’s rules, which should take precedence? Should the religious have to endure whatever burdens their beliefs bring their way, or should they be accommodated so that their religious faith does not become a source of social disadvantage? Should they have to put up with unwelcome treatments of their beliefs or should they be protected from the offensive and the disrespectful? These are some of the many issues examined in Culture, Religion and Rights.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / ECPR Press

Pages: 346 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-78661-567-1 • Hardback • October 2020 • $125.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-78661-568-8 • Paperback • October 2020 • $47.95 • (£27.95)

978-1-78661-569-5 • eBook • October 2020 • $45.50 • (£27.95)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, Religion / General, Social Science / Culture

Essays on Culture, Religion and Rights

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Summary

Culture and religion are overlapping phenomena: cultures are normally understood to subsume religions, and religions are very often central to cultures. The two are particularly closely associated when we focus on the kinds of difference that generate issues for public policy.

The world has always been culturally and religiously diverse, but recent movements of population have intensified the internal diversity of societies. That increased diversity has presented societies with a number of pressing questions. How much should cultural differences matter? Can they and should they be treated impartially? Should they receive equal recognition and what sort of recognition might that be? Are cultural and religious differences at odds with human rights thinking or do universal human rights demand respect for those differences? When the demands of a religious faith clash with those of a society’s rules, which should take precedence? Should the religious have to endure whatever burdens their beliefs bring their way, or should they be accommodated so that their religious faith does not become a source of social disadvantage? Should they have to put up with unwelcome treatments of their beliefs or should they be protected from the offensive and the disrespectful? These are some of the many issues examined in Culture, Religion and Rights.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / ECPR Press

Pages: 346 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-78661-567-1 • Hardback • October 2020 • $125.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-78661-568-8 • Paperback • October 2020 • $47.95 • (£27.95)

978-1-78661-569-5 • eBook • October 2020 • $45.50 • (£27.95)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, Religion / General, Social Science / Culture

Author

Peter Jones is Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at Newcastle University.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Political Theory and Cultural Diversity

2. Human Rights and Diverse Cultures: Continuity or Discontinuity?

3. Collective and Group-Specific: Can the Rights of Ethno-Cultural Minorities be Human Rights?

4. Equality, Recognition and Difference

5. Bearing the Consequences of Belief

6. Belief, Autonomy and Responsibility: The Case of Indirect Religious Discrimination

7. Liberty, Equality, and Accommodation

8. Religious Exemption and Distributive Justice

9. Conscientious Claims, Ill-Founded Belief, and Religious Exemption

10. Blasphemy, Offensiveness and Law

11. Respecting Beliefs and Rebuking Rushdie

12. Freedom of Expression and Religious Belief: Is “Offensiveness” Really the Issue?

Index

Essays on Culture, Religion and Rights

Peter Jones

Essays on Culture, Religion and Rights

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