ABSTRACT
Do members of religious minorities sometimes have the right to be exempted from otherwise universally applicable laws? The question raises issues of fairness, conscience and equality of opportunity, as well as the problem of defining what counts as a religion in the first place (on the latter see Greenawalt 2006: I, 124-56). Political philosophers have on the whole been sympathetic towards religious exemptions, though there are exceptions, notably Brian Barry (2001). However, a good deal of philosophical work on the issue has been subsumed under the larger banner of multiculturalism – an amalgamation of claims for representation, recognition and special privileges besides exemptions – which is not always helpful. Further, much philosophical and jurisprudential discussion has focused on three landmark US cases, the most recent of which is twenty years old. (I discuss these cases briefly below.) More recently, US judges and lawmakers have granted hundreds of exemptions from laws, rules and regulations which have not received much theoretical attention. Few British political philosophers have devoted much consideration to the issue; the main exceptions being Brian Barry, and Peter Jones (1994). In the past few years, a number of significant cases where people have claimed that general laws or rules have discriminated against them have been heard by British courts, as well as by the European Court of Human Rights. The British Government’s recent equality Act (2010), also contains numerous exemptions for religious groups.
