Religion and the Public Order of the European Union

Ronan McCrea offers the first comprehensive 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. Identifying the limitations on religious influence over law and politics that have been required by the Union.

The Union seeks to balance its predominantly Christian religious heritage with an equally strong secular and humanist 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.

Contents:

+ 1: Introduction
+ 2: Europe's Religious Inheritance: Religion, Law and Identity in Contemporary Europe
+ 3: Balance, Inheritance and Religion as a Basis of Law in the Public Order of the European Union
+ 4: Religion as Identity and the Fundamental Rights Obligations of the Union
+ 5: The Regulation of Religion in the Single Market
+ 6: Competing Identities Limiting Religious Influence within the Public Order of the Union
+ 7: Conclusion

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