In 1964, Ernst‐Wolfgang Böckenförde, then a young German legal scholar who would rise to great prominence as a member of the German Supreme Court in later years, published an essay in which he linked the emergence of the modern nation state with the rise of secularisation. Near the end of his essay, Böckenförde warned that the free, secularised state is built upon foundations which it cannot itself guarantee. This axiom has become known as the Böckenförde‐paradox. It became more widely known in 2005 when philosopher Jürgen Habermas and, the then still cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger discussed it in a now well‐known debate on the dialectics of secularisation. Ratzinger went on to become Pope Benedict XVI, but kept an interest in the topic. As Pope, he returned to it during his pontificate in five major speeches, including the one to both Houses of the United Kingdom Parliament in September 2010. The speech caught the attention of John Duddington, barrister, Editor of the journal Law and Justice, associate member of the Centre of Law and Religion at Cardiff University and for many years Head of the Law School at Worcester College of Technology. The Pope's speech inspired Duddington to write the book currently under review, Christians and the State. A Catholic Perspective for the 21st Century, in which he tries to answer the question: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? Furthermore, Duddington contemplates how Christians should contribute to the political debate and the challenges which it faces. At the end of the book, Duddington proposes a three‐point programme of action to deal with the place of religion in the public sphere.
In the context of a renewed interest in jurisprudence in the relationship between religion and law, this book tries to cover a broad field of materials, while at the same time providing the reader with examples taken from case‐law which help to bring out some of the issues at stake in a more practical and applied manner. Duddington starts by discussing the relationship between Christianity and the State in two chapters: one summarising the debate from the early days of Christianity up till the beginning of the Reformation, and a second one discussing the current situation. This is followed by a section on law discussing questions such as: is English Law based on Christianity?; the nature of Natural Law; Christians, Conscience and the Law. Duddington then moves to a discussion of the relationship between law, justice and mercy, and the relationship between the State and morality. This paves the way for an overview of hot topics in the relationship between religion and the public debate: equality, human rights, and religious liberty. Chapter 12 is especially fascinating, where Duddington discusses cases in which Christians and Christian bodies have come into conflict with the law in the area of discrimination. Here he discusses various national and international cases (Reaney v. Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance (2007); the Lautsi cases, and the Eweida, Chaplin, Ladele and McFarlane cases. Duddington presents each case briefly, but leaves it to his readers to ask themselves whether the claim by the Christian concerned was justified, or whether the State had a legitimate interest in the matter which overrode the claim.
Duddington is not an optimist when it comes to the position of Christianity, or for that matter religion, in the public debate. Following Newbigin, he warns that behind calls for 'secularisation' ‐ the stated aim not to grant privileges to any religion ‐, there can be a wider aim involving an attempt to do away with religion in the public square altogether. And so Duddington ends his book with a call for action. First, the churches should campaign vigorously to establish their right not only to be heard in the public square, but also for their right to seek to influence the content of legislation. Secondly, under the principles of the Human Rights Act, the churches should be granted the right to have their own legal systems in some areas, like the provisions with regard to Jewish marriages already in place that say that the UK courts may refuse to issue a decree of divorce if the marriage is not also dissolved according to Jewish religious usages. Finally, Duddington proposes a concordat between all religious groups and the State setting out the respective rights and duties of each other. Here, Duddington on the one hand praises the existence of an Established church in the English Constitution, but feels that, if the end of establishment is the price to pay for a settlement which would guarantee the place of religion in both public and private life, he, for one, would, with reluctance, pay it (p. 207).
Duddington is generous in incorporating non‐Catholic Christian sources in his argumentation. This gives the book a rich flavour and potentially a broader appeal. But the book is, on the other hand, clearly written with the United Kingdom in mind. This might explain why discussions on the various European settlements on issues of Church and State, religion and the public square, were, perhaps for lack of space, not given the treatment that they deserve. Furthermore, the book often refers to the National‐Socialist take over in Germany in 1933 and its consequences. It could have been even better though, if Duddington had given those German intellectuals a fair hearing who, before, and during the take‐over, tried to resist these events, or who, like Böckenförde after the war, honestly tried to understand how a Christian heritage was either a stumbling block or a new inspiration for rethinking Church‐State relationships in post‐war (West‐) Germany. Nevertheless, Christians and the State, stimulates the reader not only to contemplate theoretically the relationship between religion and law, Christianity and the State, but also encourages practical engagement with the issues at hand. Readers of this book will need no further convincing that this is necessary.
