A number of states’ laws restrict access to public space, and on appearance in that space, for individuals with religious identities. Laws which have been challenged in the European Court of Human Rights include the French burqa ban, and restrictions on the crucifix wearing in corporate spaces in the UK. Other laws either mandate or prohibit the display of religious symbols in public space. One striking example is the 2009 Swiss ban on the building of minarets. Whilst the nature and justifiability of these laws and others like them have been discussed for some time, there are good reasons to continue this discussion now. First, some of the recent laws are novel in their scope and effects. Second, it is possible that new ways of conceptualizing these laws have emerged. Third, inside the religious groups themselves there has been a lively debate about them. The aim of this panel is to discuss the public place of religious symbols and identities in light of these developments.
Chair:
- Simon Thompson (University of the West of England, Bristol)
Panelists:
- Simon Thompson (University of the West of England, Bristol) - Displaying religious identities in a plurality of public spaces
- Dorjana Bojanovska Popovska (Central European University, Budapest) - The rationale behind the naked public sphere
- Birgit Klein (University of Heidelberg) - The contemporary discourse on the eruv in German speaking countries
- Aurelia Bardon (University of Konstanz) - Christmas, Crosses and Crucifixes: When is Symbolic Religious Establishment Permissible?
- Silvia Mocchi (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali “Guido Carli”) - Laws regulating Mosques through a securitarian approach: controversial aspects and reverberations into the society
- Anna Sophie Lauwers (University of Aberdeen) - How neutral is political secularism? Investigating Christian privilege
- Suzana Ibisi (Keele University) - Regulation of Religious Symbols in the European Public Space
- David Perfect (Equality and Human Rights Commission) - Dress codes and religious symbols in Britain
Language: English
