In Religion, Rights and Secular Society, Peter Cumper and Tom Lewis seek to measure the ‘religious temperature’ of contemporary Europe and the ways in which religious freedom is protected in a number of European countries. Europe's religious and secular roots act as a backdrop to the book, and the question of how to balance the sometimes conflicting values of Christianity and secularism, as well as a variety of other faiths and belief systems, is revisited throughout.
The book is a collection of essays from eighteen leading academic contributors, covering fifteen different countries. The essays are grouped together along the following, largely geographical, lines: Chapters 2–8 cover western Europe – both the historically Protestant countries of the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, and a number of predominantly Catholic countries such as Spain and Italy; Chapters 9–12 focus on eastern Europe, and particularly on those countries affected by decades of communism, such as Hungary, Poland and much of the Balkans; the final three chapters address stand-alone topics, including the growth of Islam in Europe and legal protections for new religious movements.
While most of the geographic regions of modern-day Europe are covered by the essays – some countries in more detail than others – there are a couple of notable omissions from the book's continental tour: neither Scandinavia nor the Baltic states are addressed in the compilation. This is a shame, particularly given the host of legal issues and cases arising out of countries such as Sweden and Norway surrounding the role of religion in public life. The Norwegian parliament's recent decision to abolish the state church and a rise of conscience cases in Sweden, for example, would have been two worthy talking points to tie in to the book's general theme. These geographic omissions aside, the book succeeds in providing a comprehensive survey of the complex interaction between religion and secularism across Europe.
While each essay is different, there are some overriding themes that hold the book together. First, despite the undoubted focus on the twenty-first century, a common theme is the historical roots of the issues being worked out today. For example, the formation of some nation-states is based on past religious divides; the creation of many national identities can be traced to religion; and historic struggles between religions have in some parts been the catalyst for the constitutional frameworks we witness today. In particular, the historical impact of Christianity on Europe is made abundantly clear throughout. Another theme that emerges from the essays is the ‘kaleidoscope of diversity’ (p 5) existing within Europe's borders: both the status of religion in society, and the methods used to secure its freedom, vary widely.
Indeed, the variation within Europe is drawn out nicely through the use of examples, and although the essays are written by academics and delve into theoretical discussion in places, the book nevertheless contains an array of relevant and contemporary case studies that may be of particular use for practitioners. For example, the Italian crucifix case of Lautsi v Italy is discussed in Chapter 7, the burqa ban in France is covered in detail in Chapter 8, and a section of Chapter 10 is devoted to the dissolution of Hungarian churches following a new church registration law in 2011. The latter two examples have subsequently given rise to prominent litigation in the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of SAS v France and Magyar Keresztény Mennonita Egyház v Hungary – demonstrating both the relevance of the examples and the fact that the tensions highlighted in the book are far from becoming settled.
Cumper and Lewis begin the book by probing whether contemporary Europe can be considered Christian, secular or even post-secular, and the well-researched essays that follow amply demonstrate that the answer is far from simple. As the paradoxical rise of both secularism and public religion is addressed throughout – together with the unique challenges and issues that this paradox brings – readers can be assured that, lest anyone think otherwise, ‘rumours of the demise of religion in Europe have, to paraphrase Mark Twain, been “greatly exaggerated”’ (p 2).
As an introduction to the issues and a general overview of the situation in Europe, Religion, Rights and Secular Society serves as a valuable resource – not only to law students and academics but also to legal practitioners, policy-makers and even members of human rights NGOs working on a European level, of which the reviewer is one.
