Secularism on the Edge Rethinking Church-State Relations in the United States, France, and Israel

What is secularism, and why does it matter? In an era marked by global religious revival, how do countries navigate the presence of faith in the public square? In this dynamic collection of essays, leading scholars from around the world, including Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua and French female rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, examine the condition of church-state relations in three pivotal countries: the United States, France, and Israel. Their analyses are rooted in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ethnography and demography to political science, gender studies, theology, and law.

Prominent among the points addressed are the crippling nomenclatural confusions that have so hampered not only secularism as a political ideology, but secularism as an academic construct. This reader-friendly volume also offers a critical and nuanced look at how women are impacted by secular governance. Though secularism is often equated with modernity and progress, including with regard to gender equality, our contributors find that the truth is infinitely more complicated.

Jacques Berlinerblau is an Associate Professor of Jewish Civilization at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, USA. He has written many books and articles on the subject of secularism. His most recent book is How to be Secular: A Call to for Religious Freedom (2012).

Sarah Fainberg is a Visiting Professor of Government at the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Her current research focuses on Eurasian politics and societies, Israel's national security, and Israel-Diaspora relations.

Aurora Nou is a graduate student in International Politics at American University in Washington, DC., USA. Her current research focuses on issues of human rights and human security, including discourses of citizenship and the state, critical international relations theory, and international women's issues. Aurora received her BS from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, USA.

I. INTRODUCTION: SECULARISM ON THE EDGE
Jacques Berlinerblau, Georgetown University
II. PART ONE: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO AMERICAN SECULARISM
1. Is America a Christian nation or a secular nation?, John Fea and Jacques Berlinerblau
2. Let the study of American secularisms begin!, Jacques Berlinerblau
3. The United States Supreme Court's Religion Clause jurisprudence, Caroline Mala Corbin
4. The vitality of soft secularism in the United States and the rise of the 'nones", Barry Kosmin
5. Secular America: Atheists, agnostics, and the religiously unaffiliated, Phil Zuckerman and Jacques Berlinerblau
III. PART TWO: HILONIYUT: CURRENT LEGAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
6. A self-restrained secularism? Halakhah and Sharia in contemporary Israel, Denis Charbit
7. The 'status quo': Old and new frontlines between hilonim and anti-hiloni forces in Israel?, Ilan Greilsammer
8. Israeli religious secularism, Anita Shapira
IV. PART THREE: LAICITE IN A CULTURAL FRANCE
9. Post-war French Jewry facing laïcité in a multicultural France, Régine Azria
10. Laïcité and freedom of conscience in pluricultural France, Jean Baubérot
11. Laïcité as a background of emancipation, Henri Pena-Ruiz
V. PART FOUR: WOMEN AND SECULARISM: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES
12. Freedom of choice: Women and demography in Israel, France, and the United States, Ariela Keysar
13. In the eyes of patriarchal religion, all women are secular: What can we learn from this?, Susan Thistlethwaite
14. Religious divorce and civil divorce for Jewish and Muslim women in Canada: A comparative approach, Pascale Fournier
VI. CONCLUSION: THE SECULAR PROSPECT, Sarah Fainberg and Aurora Nou