This special issue of Studies in Law, Politics and Society contains two sections. In the first, 'Religious Inspirations and Legal Responses', contributors examine the interaction between law and religion. They consider the liberal tradition in which the law stands in stark opposition to religion, as well as traditions in which the law is inseparable from the sacred, revealing the complex and often controversial relationship between law and religion. Case studies include religious education, Sharia debates in Australia, Canada and the U.K., and same-sex marriage in the U.S.
The second section, 'Law and Social Change: Old Questions, New Answers', examines the ways in which the law simultaneously enhances and inhibits projects of social change. The varied ways in which legal institutions respond to social movements are analyzed, along with the cultural contingencies associated with law's ability to promote change, and what we can learn about law and social change by examining societies across the globe. Case studies include refugee and asylum seeker detention and the political risks of litigation in the U.S.
Section I: Law and Religion
Chapter 1. For God's Sake, Don't Segregate! Two Kinds of Religious Schools and Equality in Education; Tammy Harel Ben Shahar
Chapter 2. "Honorable Religious Premises" and Other Affronts: Disputing Free Exercise in the Era of Trump; Jenna Reinbold
Chapter 3. An Uneasy Encounter: Male circumcision, Jewish difference, and German law; Mareike Riedel
Chapter 4. Religious Accommodation in the Secular State: The Sharia Debates in Australia;Canada, and the United Kingdom; Amira Aftab
Section II: Law and Social Change: Old Questions, New Answers
Chapter 5. How Legal Intermediaries Facilitate or Inhibit Social Change; Shauhin Talesh and Jérôme Pélisse
Chapter 6. The Politics of Litigation; Jeb Barnes
Chapter 7. But is it a harm and who is responsible? Refugees and asylum seeker detention: law, courts and social change; Jennifer Balint
Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College, USA. He is also a Five College Fortieth Anniversary Professor. He has written, co-written, or edited more than fifty books in the fields of law and political science.