Secularism on the Edge

Régine Azria, École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), France Jean Baubérot, École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), France Denis Charbit, Open University of Israel Caroline Mala Corbin, University of Miami School of Law, USA John Fea, Messiah College, USA Pascale Fournier, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Canada Ilan Greilsammer, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Ariela Keysar, Trinity College, USA Barry Kosmin, Trinity College, USA Henri Peña-Ruiz, Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), France Anita Shapira, Tel Aviv University, Israel Susan Thistlethwaite, Chicago Theological Seminary, USA Phil Zuckerman, Pitzer College, USA

• I. INTRODUCTION: SECULARISM ON THE EDGE Jacques Berlinerblau, Georgetown University II. PART ONE: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO AMERICAN SECULARISM 1. Is America a Christian nation or a secular nation?, John Fea and Jacques Berlinerblau 2. Let the study of American secularisms begin!, Jacques Berlinerblau 3. The United States Supreme Court's Religion Clause jurisprudence, Caroline Mala Corbin 4. The vitality of soft secularism in the United States and the rise of the 'nones", Barry Kosmin 5. Secular America: Atheists, agnostics, and the religiously unaffiliated, Phil Zuckerman and Jacques Berlinerblau III. PART TWO: HILONIYUT: CURRENT LEGAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES 6. A self-restrained secularism? Halakhah and Sharia in contemporary Israel, Denis Charbit 7. The 'status quo': Old and new frontlines between hilonim and anti-hiloni forces in Israel?, Ilan Greilsammer 8. Israeli religious secularism, Anita Shapira IV. PART THREE: LAICITE IN A CULTURAL FRANCE 9. Post-war French Jewry facing laïcité in a multicultural France, Régine Azria 10. Laïcité and freedom of conscience in pluricultural France, Jean Baubérot 11. Laïcité as a background of emancipation, Henri Pena-Ruiz V. PART FOUR: WOMEN AND SECULARISM: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 12. Freedom of choice: Women and demography in Israel, France, and the United States, Ariela Keysar 13. In the eyes of patriarchal religion, all women are secular: What can we learn from this?, Susan Thistlethwaite 14. Religious divorce and civil divorce for Jewish and Muslim women in Canada: A comparative approach, Pascale Fournier VI. CONCLUSION: THE SECULAR PROSPECT, Sarah Fainberg and Aurora Nou

"Anybody who has ever thought critically about secularism should pick up Secularism on the Edge, a brutally frank and illuminating collection of essays by erudite writers who dissect a complex subject and still manage to be the life of the party, writing with humor, cheekiness and pluck. This isn't your talking head's monologue on secularism. It's a Feminine Mystique for suffragettes in secularism. It's a sassy read!" - Asra Nomani, author of Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam (2006), and visiting scholar in the practice of journalism at Georgetown University, USA "The very word 'secularism' is an invitation to argument. This fascinating collection of essays embodies a wide range contemporary arguments within and outside secularism - about its contested meanings, its disputed values, and its multiple contradictory directions worldwide. It will be fascinating to anyone who cares about religion and public life and keeps an open mind about how these should interact." - Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard University, USA, and author of Divided by God (2006)