In
the burgeoning literature on law and religion, scholarly attention has
tended to focus on broad questions concerning the scope of religious
freedom, the nature of toleration and the meaning of secularism. An
under-examined issue is how religion figures in the decisions, actions
and experiences of those charged with performing public duties. This
point of contact between religion and public authority has generated a
range of legal and political controversies around issues such as the
wearing of religious symbols by public officials, prayer at municipal
government meetings, religious education and conscientious objection by
public servants. Authored by scholars from a variety of disciplines, the
chapters in this volume provide insight into these and other issues.
Yet the volume also provides an entry point into a deeper examination of
the concepts that are often used to organise and manage religious
diversity, notably state neutrality. By examining the exercise of public
authority by individuals who are religiously committed - or who, in the
discharge of their public responsibilities, must account for those who
are - this volume exposes the assumptions about legal and political life
that underlie the concept of state neutrality and reveals its limits as
a governing ideal.
