Religion, Law and Society

Russell Sandberg's recent book, Religion, Law and Society, investigates how the interrelationship between two subdisciplines—law and religion and the sociology of religion—can improve learnings on the place of religion in twenty-first-century England and Wales. Sandberg addresses a timely research gap, as there are limited legal works that make reference to sociological research and minimal sociological works that make reference to law and legal literature. The book extends Sandberg's previous scholarship on Law and Religion, which examines the way law and religion have developed as a subdiscipline in England and Wales. Against a backdrop of religious resurgence and legal change to the status of religion, Sandberg powerfully demonstrates how both legal and sociological approaches are needed to unlock a fuller understanding of religion in society. The book is divided into six chapters which explore the value of interdisciplinary action through an examination of the secularization thesis. The value of interdisciplinary work is clear from the outset through a useful case study on defining religion and belief in chapter 1. The case study shows how legal definitions of religion serve as a means of inclusion and exclusion. The following chapters then draw upon sociological literature to understand and critique the secularization thesis, exploring how they can be enriched by legal materials. The secularization thesis refers to a “process of religious change,” which usually involves some form of religious decline at the individual level and/or the societal level (56). Sandberg's analysis and understanding of the secularization thesis at the societal level and at the individual level is nuanced and well researched. In chapter 5, Sandberg maintains that the “subjective turn” is “the key to understanding the place of religion in twenty-first century Britain,” and is a product of secularization (213). The subjective turn explains a movement away from institutional religion to personal spirituality and the growth in new forms of subjective identities and new religious movements (214). By drawing on legal cases, Sandberg shows how the law needs to adopt a more subjective, rather than objective, approach to religious claims to ensure they are taken seriously (215). His analysis has implications for the way the law balances a right to freedom of religion and a right not to be discriminated against.

Political science · Scholarship · Secularization · Social science · Sociological research · Sociology · Sociology of law · Value (mathematics) · Law · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · Religious Freedom and Discrimination