Law, Religion and Love

Law, Religion and Love Increasingly, the modern neo-liberal world marginalises any notion of religion or spirituality, leaving little or no room for the sacred in the public sphere. While this process advances, the conservative and harmful behaviours associated with some religions and their adherents exacerbate this marginalisation by driving out those who remain religious or spiritual. And all of this is seen through the lens of social science, which seems to agree that religion remains important, if not in a spiritual sense, at least as a source of folklore and a means of identifi cation: religions remain rooted in the societies from which they emerged, and the legal systems of many of those societies emerged from religious sources, even if those societies remain unwill- ing to admit that fact. In the modern materialistic world of conformity, religion is less a source of guidance than a label of identifi cation. The world therefore faces two issues. First, the decreasing level of spirituality in the ‘West’ widens the gap between worshippers and those who have left their faith (eg agnostics and atheists, or those who look at religion as a matter of ‘picking and choosing’ from a range of options). And, second, the strong connections to religion which remain in many nations, but which are often misused in the secular public sphere (both in the West and internationally). In such divided worlds, both religious and secular forces tend to lock themselves into closed groupings of ‘pure truth’ and in so doing increase the level of disagreement, in turn producing radicalism. In short, the modern world is divided in two ways: between religious and non-religious (although some have argued that the non-religious secular is itself a form of civil religion), and between those subscribing to divergent understandings of the same religious tradition. While hyperbolic and histrionic, the term ‘culture wars’ nonethe- less best captures what we see happening in the public sphere today. The question emerges, then: how best to accommodate the democratic principle which posits that the majority should feel that it lives in a society of its own with the human rights principle, holding that it is necessary to ensure the full protection of the minority’s rights? How to balance these seemingly opposed principles? We are very familiar with the differences that appear between secular and sacred in the modern world; yet, what of the similarities amongst scriptures and laws which seek to encourage mutual understanding, cooperation and even cohabitation? Because religion itself is a source of law, a set of exhortations or commands as much as a set of rights, every major religion offers an approach to encountering ‘the Other’ in a positive, constructive, affi rming way; and it is here that religions reveal much that they have in common. This book draws together the work of scholars engaged in exploring the possibilities for a ‘utopian’ world in the sense fostered by St Thomas More. The essays explore those dimensions of religious and civil law where ‘love’ – however that is defi ned by relevant texts – fosters and encourages acceptance of ‘the Other’ and will offer perspectives on the ways in which religious or civil/state law command one to act in the spirit of ‘love’. Paul Babie holds a Personal Chair of Law and is Associate Dean of Law (Interna- tional) in the Adelaide Law School, The University of Adelaide, Australia. Vanja-Ivan Savić is Assistant Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Law and Religion Series Editor: Professor Norman Doe Director of the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University, UK The practice of religion by individuals and groups, the rise of religious diversity, and the fear of religious extremism, raise profound questions for the interaction between law and religion in society. The regulatory systems involved, the religious laws of secular government (national and international) and the religious laws of faith communities, are valuable tools for our understanding of the dynamics of mutual accommodation and the analysis and resolution of issues in such areas as: religious freedom; discrimination; the autonomy of religious organisations; doctrine, worship and religious symbols; the property and fi nances of religion; religion, education and public institutions; and religion, marriage and children. In this series, scholars at the forefront of law and religion contribute to the debates in this area. The books in the series are analytical with a key target audience of scholars and practitioners, including lawyers, religious leaders, and others with an interest in this rapidly developing discipline. Series Board Carmen Asiaín, Professor, University of Montevideo Paul Babie, Professor and Associate Dean (International), Adelaide Law School Pieter Coertzen, Chairperson, Unit for the Study of Law and Religion, University of Stellenbosch Alison Mawhinney, Reader, Bangor University Michael John Perry, Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University For a full list of titles in this series, visit www.routledge.com/law/series/LAWRELIG Titles in this series include: Law, Religion and Love Seeking Ecumenical Justice for the Other Paul Babie and Vanja-Ivan Savić Religion, Law and the Constitution Balancing Beliefs in Britain Javier García Oliva and Helen Hall Forthcoming titles in this series include: State and Religion The Australian Story Renae Barker Law, Religion and Love Seeking Ecumenical Justice for the Other Edited by Paul Babie and Vanja-Ivan Savić First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Paul Babie and Vanja-Ivan Savić; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Paul Babie and Vanja-Ivan Savić to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-68456-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-54373-4 (ebk) Typeset in Galliard by Apex CoVantage, LLC Cover Photo © Vanja-Ivan Savić, 2014 ‘Cemetery, Roermond, Netherlands’. A small southern town, Roermond, Netherlands was historically divided between Catholics and Protestants. According to the law of the time, the cemetery in Roermond marked out separate Catholic and Protestant sections, with a wall dividing the two. Children of mixed marriages often bought two plots of land for their parents in the cemetery, one on the Catholic side and one on the Protestant, so that they could be close to one another in death. Separate memo- rial monuments were built for each parent on each side of the wall. The cover photo shows one particularly poignant example of these separate monuments, unique in this cemetery, and perhaps throughout Europe, for the fact that the two are joined by holding hands over the top of the dividing wall. This photo captures the motivating intention for this book: while the positive law divides, the law of love unites. For Rachael and Iva Contents Contributors xi Table of Cases xv Table of Legislation xvii Acknowledgments xx Introduction: law’s love 1 PAUL BABIE AND VANJA-IVAN SAVIĆ PART I Religious perspectives 13 1 Understanding love: with and without God 15 BRETT G SCHARFFS 2 Law and love in Eden 51 JOSHUA NEOH 3 Freedom, responsibility, and hope in Jewish thought 71 STEVEN H RESNICOFF 4 Texts of terror in the New Testament: encountering or hating the ‘other’? 81 MICHAEL TRAINOR 5 Weathering the storm: Shari’a in Nigeria from the earliest times to the present 102 IBRAHIM HARUNA HASSAN AL-WASEWI x Contents PART II Legal perspectives 127 6 From law to solidarity 129 SLAVICA JAKELIĆ 7 Love, law and the Judeo-Christian separation–individuation 149 JOSEPH E DAVID 8 From enemy to neighbour?: the Armenian issue in the Ottoman Turkey and problem of ‘de-victimisation’ of Armenian society 166 HOVHANNES HOVHANNISYAN 9 Global Law and Global Ethic 181 LEONARD SWIDLER 10 Freedom of expression and legal protection of religious feelings in Europe: from reconciliation to complementarity 194 DAVOR DERENČINOVIĆ PART III Synthesis 213 11 The International Forum on Religions and Democracy – a path of civic mediation for Islam in Italy: the pros and cons of integrative university education 215 ALESSANDRA GAETANI 12 The boundaries of religious ethics, secular ethics and law 250 ROBERT CROTTY 13 Imago and imitatio : perfection of the individual and society in Maimonides’ theory of religious law 266 RAPHAEL DASCALU 14 The commandment of love in family law 289 DUBRAVKA HRABAR Index 306 Contributors Ibrahim Haruna Hassan al-Wasewi is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria. He holds degrees in Civil Engineering and Devel- opment, and a BA, MA and a PhD in Islamic Studies. His teaching and research focus on Islamic sciences as well as Islam in the modern world, with a specifi c focus on the intersection of Islamic and western thought. He has held collaborative researches at Birmingham University and the University of Arizona and a Fulbright visiting at Northwestern, Evanston IL.

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