11 - State Neutrality: A Work in Progress

Summary

Considers the challenges facing the state in contemporary democratic societies where it must find a balanced way of relating to traditional institutional religions, a flux of modern variants and assorted forms of belief and imported cultures, at a time when secularism is becoming steadily more assertive, and where all must be given autonomy and the freedom to mix and mutate. Takes into account the disruption caused by protracted wars in largely Muslim countries, combined with the ongoing migrant crisis, together with residual ISIS-related terrorism, all of which inevitably impose constraints upon domestic policies of multiculturalism or pluralism and impact upon civil society. Notes that these developments are accompanied by varied national progress in terms of a grid of equality and non-discrimination legislation and in subscribing to supranational human rights. This gives rise to some discussion of cultural dislocation, the levelling effect of equality legislation and perhaps the desiccation that threatens to accompany the present rights-driven approach to complex social problems.