Multicultural political theory

Abstract

Our aim in this chapter is to consider the contribution that political theory – and, in particular, multicultural political theory – can make to the study of law and religion. Whilst these are, of course, very distinct academic enterprises, we believe that there are a number of reasons for thinking that the former can help with the investigation of the latter. First, the two enterprises share a common concern with the rules governing society, although the normative principles in which political theory is interested may be rather more abstract than the extant bodies of law which preoccupy legal scholars. Second, they both focus on how these rules impact on certain aspects of individuals' identities, although the former's concern with cultural identity is rather broader than the latter's focus on specifically religious identity. Third, they have views about the significance of the diversity of such identities for contemporary societies in general, and for their political and legal systems in particular. As a result of these overlapping concerns, we believe that multicultural political theory can bring a relevant yet distinctive perspective to bear on matters law and religion, a perspective which is worth consideration by legal scholars