Law and Religion in Multicultural Societies

Globalization and migration increasingly challenge the political and judicial systems of Western nation states. The more or less secular judicial systems of these states are challenged by the traditional religious and judicial practices of immigrants, especially in the case of problems of family law, such as marriage divorce and inheritance. The present articles focus on the relationship between religion and law in multicultural societies by supplying comparative examples of how the practice of diverse law systems in modern states may lead to conflict or co-existence. The articles will not only consist of examples from various Western contexts, but will also contain comparative examples from a few post-colonial, non-Western societies with a long experience in dealing with problems relating to multiculturalism and religious pluralism. This collection of papers on "Law and Religion in Multicultural Societies" is the product of a lecture series given in Copenhagen in Autumn 2006. The authors were each invited to deliver a lecture in a weekly series at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. The participants were students, teachers and interested people from outside the University. The series provided an opportunity for the lecturers to interact with a wider public, and they later revised the texts of their lectures in the light of the feedback and discussions which were held after their lectures. This collection of papers thus addresses a fundamental problem in human society. The tension between law and religion has existed from ancient times but has gained global scope and intense urgency in recent years.