Hirschl, Ran --- "Comparative Constitutional Law and Religion" [2011] ELECD 383; in Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind (eds), "Comparative Constitutional Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Comparative Constitutional Law

Editor(s): Ginsburg, Tom; Dixon, Rosalind

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848445390

Section: Chapter 23

Section Title: Comparative Constitutional Law and Religion

Author(s): Hirschl, Ran

Number of pages: 19

Extract:

23. Comparative constitutional law and religion
Ran Hirschl



1 INTRODUCTION
The rule of law and the rule of God ­ two of the most powerful ideas of all time, an `odd
couple' of sorts, diametrically opposed in many respects, yet at the same time sharing
strikingly similar characteristics, each with its own sacred texts, interpretive practices, and
communities of reference ­ seem destined to collide. Their charged encounters are further
accentuated by the intersection of two broad trends: the return of religion to the forefront
of world politics and global convergence to constitutionalism. Religion and the belief in
God have made a major comeback. From the fundamentalist turn in predominantly Islamic
polities to the spread of Catholicism and Pentecostalism in the global south, and from the
increase in religiously devout immigrants in Europe to the rise of the Christian right in the
United States, it is hard to overstate the significance of the religious revival in late twen-
tieth and early twenty-first century politics. At the same time, the world has witnessed the
rapid spread of constitutionalism and judicial review. Constitutional supremacy ­ a
concept that has long been a major pillar of the American political order ­ is now shared,
in one form or another, by over 150 countries and several supra-national entities across the
globe.
In this chapter, I delineate two key aspects of the tense intersection of constitutional
law and religion worldwide: (i) the range of constitutional models ­ from atheism or strict
separation to full enshrinement ­ for arranging `religion ...