Faith & Secularism in Law and Justice
24 October 2012 at 6:15 pm
Professor J. H. H. Weiler
(Director, Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice, New York University School of Law)
Our societies are committed to the protection of the fundamental human rights of the individual. We have come to understand that even majorities may be tyrannical and thus our form of governance balances parliamentary democracy with constitutional protection of individual rights and liberties. And yet no right or liberty is absolute: Freedom of expression, yes, but not if it means shouting Fire! in a crowded cinema or libellously defaming the reputation and honour of a fellow citizen. The most difficult cases concern the clash of rights: Freedom of expression of one person in conflict with the right to privacy of another. It is in this category that we find one of the most vexed problems of all: the clash between freedom of religion, protected in all constitutions of Western liberal democracies and freedom from religion, equally protected as part of freedom of conscience. What makes this problem so acute is, first, the gravity with which people hold certain beliefs and, second, the fact that resolving these tensions reflects so deeply on societal and even national identity. The matter is complicated further in a country such as the UK with its established Churches – the British Sovereign is not only Head of State but also the head of the Anglican Church.
Can these tensions be “Resolved”? Probably not. How does one compromise on First Things, fundamental truths, articles of faith? Not “Resolution” then but Accommodation. A manner in which one may remain true to one’s own, while accommodating the Other, with that Accommodation becoming the new hall mark not only of mutual respect but of one’s very identity.
The lecture explored both the tensions and the various means of accommodation.
In association with
