Religion as Empowerment

Dr Kyriaki Topidi is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law of the University of Lucerne, Switzerland. She is also associate director of the Centre of Comparative Constitutional Law and Religion at UNILU. She teaches and researches on comparative constitutional law with emphasis on religious rights, on which she has published widely.Lauren Fielder is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law at the University of Texas, USA. She teaches, writes and speaks about human rights issues in Africa.

• Table of Contents List of Figures and TablesList of ContributorsAcknowledgementsChapter 1: Introduction– Werner Menski & Kyriaki TopidiPart I: Religion AS LawChapter 2: Islam as legal (dis)-empowerment: The dynamic interplay between Italian legal provisions and shariah-compliant norms – Federica SonaChapter 3: South African Women’s Legal Experiences of Muslim Personal Law – Waheeda AmienChapter 4: Decoding Diversity: Experiences with Personal Law in the Lower Courts of Maharashtra – Kalindi KokalChapter 5: When courts do not finish contentious causes: Revisiting the value of religious laws in the Rainbow Nation – Dennis Bonginkosi XuluChapter 6: Shari’a Deconstructed: A New Definition of Islamic Constitutionalism and its enforcement through Positive Law –Pietro LongoPart II: Religion IN LawChapter 7: Engaging Religious Laws, Players and Communities: Confronting Religious Dis-Empowerment – Amos Israel - Vleeschhouwer Chapter 8: Negotiating religious orthodoxy, state neutrality and religious freedom: The case of the Ahmadiyah controversy in post-Suharto Indonesia – Supriyanto AbdiChapter 9: Must the infringement of women’s rights within religions be tolerated? A Swiss perspective – Adrian LoretanChapter 10: Polygyny in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Practice that empowers or disempowers women? – Lauren FielderChapter 11: Tolerance of Liberal Values in Romania: Anti-Abortion from Strategies between Religious Belief and Civil Society Mobilisation – Bodgan Mihai Radu and Cosmina PaulChapter 12: Public Education and Religious Rights: A Comparative Analysis – Kyriaki Topidi Chapter 13: Conclusion: The Normative Dialogue between Religion and Law as a Cultural Endeavour: A Plea for Complexity and Context - Kyriaki Topidi

'This is a must read book to everyone who is interested in the intersection of law and religion in the contemporary world. In a rich and interdisciplinary volume, the authors reveal how persistent religious claims are in Western legal systems and offer a normative account of how religion and the rule of law can (and should) coexist in the public sphere and even empower one another. Topidi & Fielder bring an impressive collection of articles that shake-up the traditional thinking. Be ready for an intellectual challenge!'Liav Orgad, Harvard University, USA'Religion as empowerment is a wide-ranging collective book exploring the universe of "Law and Religion" from different angles and with reference to various cultural and legal experiences. The overall scenario depicts a post-secular world, where religion is "lurking in the background" as another form of claimed legal authority. Through the lenses of legal pluralism, the authors explore the normative dialogue between religion and law furnishing invaluable insights for legal scholars as well as for practitioners.'Domenico Amirante, The Second University of Naples, Italy'This book is about the manifold legal tools provided by official law and by religious and cultural traditions and about their capacity to provide justice. Interdisciplinary case studies of topical interest from various corners of the world accentuate the impact of theoretical legal approaches on individual people’s lives. A recommended reading and a stimulus for further research.'Wolfgang Wieshaider, University of Vienna, Austria