The European Court of Human Rights has upheld Italy's policy of displaying crucifixes in its public school classrooms. In Lautsi v Italy, an atheist mother of two state school children challenged this policy, in place since 1924. After losing in the Italian courts, she appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the presence of these crucifixes in schools violated her and her children's rights to religious freedom and to a secular education guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. On 3 November 2009, a unanimous seven-judge chamber of the European Court held for Ms Lautsi. On 18 March 2011, the Grand Chamber reversed this decision and held 15 to 2 in favour of the Government of Italy.

How liberal democracies can accommodate tenaciously-held religious views within the wider framework of human rights legislation and balance the resulting conflicts is a conundrum that confronts governments throughout Europe and was the theme of three major speeches delivered at the end of the period under review.

This article examines the unique risks associated with Islamic financial institutions and the secular state's reticence to directly regulate their religious dimension. It argues that the state's method of regulating the Islamic financial industry ignores special reputational risks associated with the religious and cultural distinctiveness of Islamic banks.

The long-awaited proposals for the final (?) reform of the House of Lords were published on 15 May. Though the draft Bill envisages a House with 240 elected members and 60 appointed members nominated by a statutory Appointments Commission and recommended for appointment by the Prime Minister, the White Paper states explicitly that ‘it is a draft and we will consider options including a wholly elected House’. Probably the key proposal for readers of this Journal is that a maximum of 12 Church of England bishops would sit ex officiis in the reformed House, in addition to the 60 appointed members. Unlike the other members, the bishops will not be paid in respect of their membership, and the provisions of the draft Bill on taxation, suspension and expulsion and the majority of the disqualifying grounds will not apply to them. Over time the number of bishops in the Lords will be reduced from the initial 12 to 7.

The single most important piece of legislative business considered by the Synod in 2010 was, of course, the draft legislation relating to women in the episcopate. Having been given First Consideration by the Synod in February 2009, the draft legislation was the subject of detailed consideration by a Revision Committee between May 2009 and April 2010. The Revision Committee received 297 submissions, of which 114 were from individual Synod members or groups including Synod members and others. In consequence, it met on 16 occasions and its report ran to 142 pages.

This year the Church of Ireland General Synod took place in the home of the Metropolitan in Dublin, Christchurch Cathedral. In the more recent past Synod has used the facilities of one of the city's major hotels, facilities which a cathedral could not and would not claim to match. However, the cathedral had in the past been used for many different purposes during its near 1,000-year history and it provided for the Synod an atmosphere wholly unlike any secular conference. One could argue, as did the Dean, that when the Synod is meeting in Dublin Christchurch is its rightful home.

The 2010 General Assembly was perhaps most notable for two events: on Sunday 23 May a special session was held to mark the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation and on 26 May, for the first time in its history, it was addressed by a Muslim, Dr Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies in the University of Glasgow. Otherwise, the Assembly devoted much of its time to detailed issues of church law, governance and the more general needs of Scotland's wider society.2

A resolution recognising the need to address the Covenant carefully and prayerfully was passed after considerable discussion on the final draft of the Covenant; it was remitted to the Faith and Order Board to be given careful consideration. Questions were raised as to whether the Covenant was a reasonable and necessary instrument to strengthen the cohesion of a diverse Communion and whether it was helpful to attempt to define a single view and substitute a central authority for Anglican co-responsibility. The difficulties being faced by the Anglican Communion were being faced by every Church across the world. It was now for the Faith and Order Board to advise on what process or processes might be appropriate to be followed by the Synod to enable due consideration of the final version of the Covenant by the Scottish Episcopal Church. Questions were also asked as to whether a loose arrangement might be better suited to taking the strain and it was suggested that the Scottish Church should not be afraid of breaking with the Anglican Communion. The Primus pointed out that the process as a whole would take a considerable amount of time and it was not a process on which the Church should feel rushed.