Defining Harm

Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law

By Lori G. Beaman
Categories: Law & Legal Studies, Law & Society, Social Sciences, Race & Ethnicity, Immigration, Emigration & Transnationalism, Religious Studies
Series: Law and Society
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774814294, 200 pages, January 2008
Paperback : 9780774814300, 200 pages, July 2008
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774855488, 200 pages, July 2008
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774858205, 200 pages, July 2008

Table of contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction: The Culture of Fear and the Risk Paradigm

2 Body, Mind, and Soul: The Notion of Governance

3 Risk and Excess

4 A Free and Informed Will

5 Conclusion: Governmentality, Risk, and Religious Freedom

Notes

References

Index

Description

A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizen and of the limits of religious freedom, this book demonstrates that the stakes in debates on religious freedom are not just about beliefs and practices but also have implications for the construction of citizenship in a diverse nation. Lori Beaman looks at the case of Jehovah’s Witness Bethany Hughes who was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction, reflecting a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom and reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen.