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This innovative volume is focused on the relationship between religion on the one hand and political and judicial rights on the other. At a time when the so-called 'checks and balances' that guarantee the vulnerable equilibrium between legislative, executive and judicial branches of governance are increasingly under pressure, this book offers valuable insights. It presents empirical work that has measured young people's attitudes and explains the variety found across their views. Readers will find answers to the question: To what extent do youths in different countries support political and judicial human rights and what influences their attitudes towards these rights?
The political rights in this question include, among others, active and passive voting right, the right to protest, and the rights of refugees. Judicial rights refer in general to the right of a fair trial, and include principles like equality before the law; the right to independent and impartial judgement; thepresumption of innocence; the right to legal counsel; and the privilege against self-incrimination.
Expert contributing authors look at aspects such as religious beliefs and practices, personal evaluation of state authorities, and personality characteristics. The authors discuss contextual determinants for attitudes towards political and judicial rights, in both theory and empirical indicators. Numerous helpful tables and figures support the written word. This book makes an original contribution to research through the empirical clarification of factors that induce or reduce people's support of political and judicial rights. It will appeal to graduates and researchers in religious studies, philosophy or sociology of religion, among other disciplines, but it will also interest the general reader who is concerned with matters of human rights and social justice.
List of contents
Introduction: Religion and political and judicial rights (Carl Sterkens).- Chapter 1. Attitude toward political rights and religious affiliation, experience, saliency and openness: An empirical enquiry among students in England and Wales (Leslie J Francis).- Chapter 2. Religion and political rights in the Spanish context: looking for developments (Lluis Oviedo).- Chapter 3. Religion for the political rights of immigrants and refugees? An empirical exploration among Italian students (Francesco Zaccaria).- Chapter 4. The Role of Values and Political Orientation in Human Rights (In-) Tolerance - The Croatian Youth Case (Damir Milos).- Chapter 5. Religion, political and juridical rights in post-communist, post-atheist spaces. An empirical analysis among youth in Romania (Silviu E. Rogobete).- Chapter 6. Young Palestinian Muslim Support for Judicial and Political Human Rights (Raymond J. Webb).- Chapter 7. Extending Political Rights to Immigrants and Refugees. Empirical study among Christian, Muslim and Hindu students in the context of Indian secularism and the politics of inclusion (Francis-Vincent Anthony).- Chapter 8. Judicial Rights among Youth in Tanzania (Clement Fumbo).- Chapter 9. Predictors of judicial human rights' attitudes of adolescents in Nigeria (Modestus Adimekwe).- Chapter 10. Social conflicts, religion and human rights support. A study of young Christians and Muslims in Scandinavia (Pål Ketil Botvar).- Chapter 11. Attitudes towards refugee rights in thirteen countries. A multi-level analysis of the impact and interaction of individual and socio-cultural predictors (Alexander Unser).
About the author
Dr. Carl Sterkens is Associate Professor Pastoral Theology and Empirical Religious Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans-Georg Ziebertz is Professor for Pedagogy of Religion, Würzburg University, Würzburg, Germany
