International Journal of Constitutional Law Advance Access originally published online on June 15, 2009
International Journal of Constitutional Law 2009 7(3):494-514; doi:10.1093/icon/mop010
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The crisis of the secular state—A reply to Professor Sajó
* Lecturer in law, King's College London. This paper benefited from the comments of the participants in a seminar at Boston College Law School, and a seminar on "Multiculturalism and Liberalism" at King's College London. Many thanks to Cecile Laborde, Aileen McColgan, Irit Samet Porat, Chris Townley, Giuseppe Martinico, Marco Dani, Maleiha Malik, and Camil Ungureanu for written and oral comments. Email: lorenzo.zucca{at}kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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The failure of the European Constitution ignited two apparently independent debates, on the future of European states and on the place of Christian values in the European public sphere. In recent years, the latter question has become more and more burning; so much so that the future of European secular states is considered to depend to a great extent on its ability to cope with the alleged threat of religion. Responding to an essay by András Sajó, Preliminaries to a Concept of Constitutional Secularism, which appeared in I•CON in October of 2008, this paper distinguishes two competing theories of the place of religion in Europe and suggests that the best understanding of secularism does not exclude religious minorities from the public sphere. European states should develop a common secular position that articulates and promotes conditions of coexistence and communication.