The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom: Human Rights in the United States and Europe

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John Witte Jr Andrea Pin

The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom

Name: The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom
Price: 231 AUD
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ISBN: 9780268210625

Human Rights in the United States and Europe

John Witte Jr, Andrea Pin

$231

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

University of Notre Dame Press
01 April 2026

Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship; Legal history; International human rights law; Constitutional & administrative law

The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom documents the essential interdependence of human rights and religious freedom in the West, from antiquity to the present.

In The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom, authors John Witte Jr. and Andrea Pin explore the Christian and secular origins of rights in the Western legal tradition and the complex interplay between human rights and religious freedom norms in modern law, religion, and culture. They analyze historical documents and recent cases from the United States Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union to articulate the historical, theoretical, and legal tension of human rights and religious freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. The authors contrast the serious threats to new religious minorities and traditional religious accommodations with firm new protections of religious freedoms in both Europe and America.

Ultimately calling for robust protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of all people and faiths, Witte and Pin caution that religious freedom and other human rights claims can only do so much to bridge the widening cultural divides over law and religion in modern Western societies. It is our responsibility to embrace the fundamental goods of dignity, fraternity, and justice.

By: John Witte Jr, Andrea Pin
Imprint: University of Notre Dame Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780268210625
ISBN 10: 0268210624
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 01 April 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

John Witte Jr. is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, McDonald Distinguished Professor of Religion, and Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He is the author of The Blessings of Liberty: Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the Western Legal Tradition and co-author of Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment. Andrea Pin is professor of comparative law at the University of Padova, Italy. He is the author of The Legal Treatment of Muslim Minorities in Italy: Islam and the Neutral State and Religious Freedom without the Rule of Law: The Constitutional Odysseys of Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iraq and the Fate of the Middle East.

Reviews for The Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom: Human Rights in the United States and Europe

""The ideal entry point for anyone wanting to gain a general and authoritative understanding of the history and development of religious liberty in Europe and the United States from its origins to the latest judicial developments."" - Paolo G. Carozza, co-author of Regional Protection of Human Rights