Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society: Essays in Pluralism, Religion, and Public Policy

What does it mean to describe our society as secular? And what role might religion play in its evolution? Are religious considerations a necessary part of coherent speech about human dignity or human rights? Are religious communities properly accounted for in our talk of a "social contract"? Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society sets aside popular myths about secularism to probe these important questions from the perspectives of law, politics, religion, morality, and bioethics, reconfiguring the debate about religion and public life. Contributors include Iain T. Benson, executive director, Centre for Cultural Renewal; Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago; H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr, professor of philosophy, Rice University and professor emeritus, Baylor College of Medicine; Douglas Farrow; William Galston, professor, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland; The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, PC, chief justice of Canada; David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies and professor of philosophy, University of Toronto; Margaret Somerville, Samuel Gale Professor of Law and Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University; and Prince El Hassan bin Talal, chairman of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.