Details
- The first comprehensive account of the role of religion within the public order of the EU and its limitations
- Covers areas outside existing literature, analysing the influence of religion over substantive law-making within the EU, the accommodation of religious interests within EU public law, and the adaptation of the EU public order in the face of a shifting religious demographic
- Examines issues like Islam's role in Europe, and EU religious policy and the Catholic Church
Ronan McCrea offers the first comprehensive account of the role of religion within the public order of the European Union. He examines the facilitation and protection of individual and institutional religious freedom in EU law and the means through which the Union facilitates religious input and influence over law. In addition, the book draws attention to the limitations on religious influence over law and politics that are required by the Union. It shows the extent to which such limitations are identified as fundamental elements of the EU's public order and as prerequisites for membership.
The Union seeks to balance its predominantly Christian religious heritage with an equally strong secular and humanist tradition by facilitating religion as a form of cultural identity while simultaneously limiting its political influence. Such balancing takes place in the context of the Union's limited legitimacy and its commitment to respect for Member State cultural autonomy. Deference towards the cultural role of religion at Member State level enables culturally-entrenched religions to exercise a greater degree of influence within the Union's public order than "outsider" faiths that lack a comparable cultural role. Placing the Union's approach to religion in the context of broader historical and sociological trends around religion in Europe and of contemporary debates around secularism, equal treatment, and the role of Islam in Europe, McCrea sheds light on the interaction between religion and EU law in the face of a shifting religious demographic.
Readership: Legal academics interested in European law, law and religion, constitutional law, and comparative law; sociologists, political theorists, and academics in religious studies; students studying law and religion courses; lobbying organisations and EU institutions.
1: Introduction2: Europe's Religious Inheritance: Religion, Law and Identity in Contemporary Europe3: Balance, Inheritance and Religion as a Basis of Law in the Public Order of the European Union4: Religion as Identity and the Fundamental Rights Obligations of the Union5: The Regulation of Religion in the Single Market6: Competing Identities Limiting Religious Influence within the Public Order of the Union7: Conclusion;
Ronan McCrea, Lecturer in Law, University of Reading
Ronan McCrea was educated at Trinity College Dublin (LL.B.) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc., Ph.D.). He joined the School of Law at Reading University as a lecturer in 2009 from the chambers of Advocate General Poiares Maduro at the European Court of Justice where he worked as référendaire. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2003 and completed pupillage at Matrix Chambers in London. He is also a former Legal Officer of the Refugee Legal Centre and a former voluntary associate counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU.
"McCrea's book will become a must-read in the field of law and religion. It is the first sustained treatment of the relationship of law and religion within the European Union, is written cogently and is very engaging." - Joel Harrison, Journal of Church and State
"This book is truly the first publication of its kind . . . McCrea sets out to analyse the complex web of history, law and policy that defines the relationship between the European Union and religion, thus filling several large gaps in the pre-existing literature. He achieves this quest with clarity, not least thanks to the careful choice of the elements of culture, identity and autonomy as recurrent themes connecting the ideas presented throughout the chapters . . . Undoubtedly this book provides vital reference points for questions likely to be posed before the EU's institutions in the future...a book that is highly relevant to those researching, teaching and working in the field of religion, EU law and politics"" - Journal of Common Market Studies
"This book makes a valuable and timely contribution to the debate on one of the most controversial areas of public life." - Cherie Blair
"...organised logically and written coherently. McRae's examination of the relationship between religion and the EU public order os conducted in a perceptive, resourceful and proficient manner. Indeed, he combines an otherwise byzantine maze of intertwining principles, relations and sources into a skilfully lucid account." - The Modern Law Review
"Most certainly, an enjoyable and informative read, and a valuable addition to the series." - Julian Rivers, University of Bristol
