Politics of Religious Diversity: toleration, religious freedom, and visibility of religion in public space Mariëtta Dorothea Clementine van der Tol Sidney Sussex This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 13 July 2020 Declaration This thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my thesis has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the Degree Committee of the Department of Politics and International Studies. Summary Politics of Religious Diversity: toleration, religious freedom, and visibility of religion in public space Mariëtta D.C. van der Tol In France, Germany and the Netherlands, a mix of secularisation, privatisation of religion, and immigration concerns have increased social and political anxiety about the visibility of religion and religious diversity in public space. Visibility in public space is a measure of sociability: expressions of identity in public space attest to a public recognition as well as integration of this identity into cultural transcendences. This visibility is historically intertwined with genealogies of early modern toleration (ca 1500-1789). This thesis compares trajectories in the development of toleration and religious freedom in France, Germany, and the Netherlands, arguing that common frames of reference to toleration – truth, outward unity, public order, economic benefit and trust – have transformed into substrata of constitutionalism. Is it possible to fully disentangle toleration from the structures of constitutional law? Toleration emerged in conjugation with the political imaginary of the corpus christianum, which relegated minorities primarily to private spaces, based on the assumption that one could separate spaces and personae. This thesis contends that the political imaginary of the nation replaced the imaginary of the corpus christianum, and that constitutionalisation was part of a new political order which constructed a different yet similar oneness of territory, people, and teleology. This nexus creates new categories of othering inside and outside the nation based on religion, race, and origin, or combinations of those. These new categories of othering obscure that belonging is about more than integration and outward conformity alone, and that immigrants still face structural racism, even when they have fully “integrated”. Moreover, the identification of common space with a shared political identity renders minorities vulnerable to political interpretations of public order in the context of the law. Parliamentary documentation and court cases on the full face veil, the burkini, and the hijab, demonstrate this vulnerability, in particular where religious otherness intersects with race and gender. To my dear “beppe” Door Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................... xi 1. Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 2. Early modern formations of the theological-political concept of toleration ....................................................................................... 21 3. From covenant to contract: philosophical critiques and reimagination of political order ..................................................... 48 4. Engineering belonging: substrata of early modern toleration in emerging constitutionalism ....................................................... 74 5. Lingering legacies of toleration in the nation state: integration, secularisation, and privatisation of religion ......... 110 6. Public order, state neutrality and striving after the common good .................................................................................................. 132 7. Regulating conformity: law, politics, and religious symbols in public space ..................................................................................... 157 8. Conclusion ................................................................................... 182 Bibliography .................................................................................... 188 Acknowledgements The many complex and interwoven questions that this dissertation engages on toleration and religious freedom are the fruit of interdisciplinary reflections on political and constitutional theory. Masters in Legal Research and in Socio-political history at Utrecht University, as well as in History of Christianity at Yale Divinity School equipped me with different conceptual frameworks and methodologies through which to study toleration and religious diversity. I would like to recognise the mentorship and guidance of Bruce Gordon, Kenneth Minkema, David Sorkin, Tisa Wenger, Jennifer Herdt, Vernice Randall, as well as Henk Kummeling, Henk Addink, Hans-Martien ten Napel, George Harinck, and Leon van den Broeke. The Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge gave me a unique opportunity to shape my doctoral research interdisciplinarily. I am indebted to my supervisor Sara Silvestri and advisor Iza Hussin, whose thorough critiques helped framing this dissertation within the discipline of Politics. Many scholars and students have accompanied me on this journey. I would like to express my gratitude to Philip Gorski, Beatrice de Graaf, Matthias König, John Dunn, Brendan Simms, Pieter van Houten, Peter Sloman, Alexandra Walsham, Sarah Mortimer, Miroslav Volf, Ira Katznelson, Caroline de Lima e Silva, Eugenio Biagini, Sylvana Tomaselli, John Bell, Joel Hanisek, Tobias Müller, Alice Musabende, Engy Moussa, Ruth Jackson Ravenscroft, Theo Dunkelgrün, Simon Goldhill, Sami Everett, John Adenitire, Emily Kempson, Carys Brown, and my students in the History of Political Thought (Pol 7). I am also grateful for the support from my college, Sidney Sussex, librarian Alan Stevens, and chaplain Brett Gray. This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous support through the Vice-Chancellor’s Award from the Cambridge Trust and the Doctoral Training Programme of the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I would like to thank Alistair Swiffen for his enthusiasm in supporting the DTP cohorts. I have been touched by further support from the Sint Geertruidsleen, who have generously supported my studies abroad since my departure to Yale. I am grateful for the generous funding from the Harold C. Smith Foundation for the extracurricular project ‘Protestant political thought: religion, state, nation’ (2019-2021). I would like to thank officers Kurt Kaboth, Nancy Opalack, and Vanessa Jerome, Clare College and the Centre of Geopolitics, as well as Judd Birdsall, Jonathan Chaplin, Anton Jäger, Sophia Johnson, Christopher Wadibia, Matthew Rowley, Jenny Leith, Roger Revell, Tobias Cremer, Jake Anderson and Lily Rivers for terrific teamwork and kind friendship. xi This thesis has gained much of its depth in conversation with other researchers I met during study visits and conferences. I would like to thank Stichting de Honderd Guldenreis, Sidney Sussex, the AHRC, Euare, the Katholiek Documentatie Centrum, and the Morrell Centre for Toleration for supporting several visits to research centres and conferences in the United States, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, as well as in the United Kingdom. I have particularly enjoyed and benefitted from a mini-internship with the Netherlands Council of State and I would like to thank Arnold Weggeman, Marjolein Swaanenburg-van Roosmalen, and Ben Vermeulen for their generosity and mentoring. I would further like to express my gratitude to my generous hosts at the Lichtenberg Kolleg in Göttingen during the final stages of writing. I am also grateful to CRASSH and DAAD-Cambridge for the support of three workshops between 2018 and 2020, as well as support for further workshops in 2021-2023. Whilst the writing of a dissertation is said to be a lonely process, I am forever grateful for the many friendships that have flourished in and beyond Cambridge. I am especially grateful for the friendship of Burchell & Raul Valldejuli, Constant & Margreet van den Heuvel, Emma Monteiro, Dorota Molin, Jessica van Egdom, Jessica Powell-Lim, Rashel Pakbaz, Solène Rolland, Nungari Mwangi, Clara Lloyd, Nard Choi, Matthew Johnson, Rebecca Whiteman, Marienne Cacho Pires, Kevin Holmes, Lois Morris, Annette Harraway, Robert van Duursen & Lieneke Makaske, Nick & Claire Widdows, Jonathan & Jane Hellyer Jones, Rowan & Jane Williams, Nick & Rosemary Boyle, Charles & Rosanna Moseley, Philip & Cecilia Brassett, Hannah Richardson, Jon & Anita Hinkson, Linda Dean, Arthur & Emem Keefer, Richard & Elora Oosterhoff, the communities around the Scriptorium at the Round Church and St. Edward’s, the ERMC and the Christian Graduate Society. I will treasure the unforgettable memories with Magdalene College Chapel, as Assistant Organist under the leadership of Graham Walker from 2018-2019