Concepts of toleration and freedom are rooted in modern-day political, social and religious discourses. In bringing together nine chapters from scholars active in the fields of history, law, political science, philosophy and theology, the editors of this volume seek to demonstrate how different perspectives and disciplines can help to make sense of how the theory and practice of toleration and religious freedom operates in the ‘real-world’. The volume supports recent challenges to the assumption that the move towards toleration and religious freedom is defined by linearity, arguing instead that ‘the emergence of the idea of religious freedom was far from a straightforward narrative of the eventual triumph of religious freedom over state intolerance and ingrained prejudice’ (p. 2). The editors stress that inter-disciplinary discourse and collaboration is vital in coming to understand present-day notions of ‘toleration’ and ‘religious freedom’.
There is a concerted effort throughout the volume to demonstrate how historical problems can help to shape responses to modern-day issues regarding toleration and religious freedom. The first three chapters are centred on seventeenth-century England. John Coffey considers the ‘emergence of the idea of religious liberty as a natural right’ and suggests that its origin can be found in Anglophone political discourse from as early as the English Revolution (p. 26). Coffey traces the limits of religious liberty, noting that even those who advocated toleration, such as John Locke, rejected atheism. Coffey ends his chapter by examining how his findings for seventeenth-century England have bearing upon today's political discourse on freedom. In her chapter, Fiona McCall adopts a qualitative and quantitative approach to consider the relative tolerance of local justice with regards to religious freedom. While some authorities clamped down forcefully on religious diversity during the Interregnum, this approach was inconsistent across the country. McCall concludes that, perhaps unsurprisingly, seventeenth-century notions of religious tolerance stand in stark contrast to modern ideas and that, just as today, ‘social or political unrest can often exacerbate religious persecution’ (p. 84). Shannon Stimson's chapter examines the ideas of the controversial seventeenth-century political economist William Petty who accepted religious diversity because of the resulting economic and civic benefits. In his reforming works, Petty ‘sought to remove the obstacles in both England and Ireland to the development of production, exchange and trade within the larger economy’, with one such challenge being intolerance (p. 111).
Alex Tebble's chapter explores aspects of political theory by examining parallels between John Locke's denial of toleration to atheists and John Rawls's rejection of it for those deemed ‘unreasonable’ (p. 123). Tebble suggests that modern liberalism is constrained by limitations or denials of toleration to those groups who ‘undermine the intellectual framework of society itself through a denial of the beliefs and values that form the bonds of human association’ and which are similar to those imposed by Locke's concepts of toleration (p. 144). Augar Pearce's chapter examines the use of charitable trusts. This legal device enabled dissenting religious groups in seventeenth-century England to preserve their religious practices, but, as Pearce charts, charitable trusts were transformed from initially being a useful aid to dissenters to becoming a hindrance in more recent times, especially with regards to ecumenicism and same-sex marriage.
The following three chapters consider limits to religious freedoms as experienced by Muslims in modern Europe. Sarah Scholl explores differences between religious freedom and toleration in Switzerland. These distinctions are particularly relevant to broader scholarship on toleration and the chapter demonstrates how terms such as toleration, coexistence, pluralism and religious freedom can be used. In keeping with other chapters, Scholl concludes that tensions exist between freedom and toleration noting that in 2009, for instance, the construction of minarets was prohibited whilst Christian communities continue to enjoy the freedom to construct church spires (p. 193). Continuing the focus on legal aspects of religious freedom, Kaisa Iso-Herttua examines how concerns regarding security impact on religious freedom afforded to minority groups, especially Muslims, in contemporary Europe, and suggests that toleration ‘retains the capacity for the exclusion of particular groups by re-defining the religious other as a political or cultural other’ (p. 196). Interesting comparisons are drawn between the limits of Lockean toleration to non-Anglican groups based on the perceived risks they posed to the crown and modern restrictions on Muslim religious freedoms stemming from political and civic concerns to preserve societal cohesion. The final chapter in this sequence considers the more positive experience of Muslims in Croatia. Mirela Krešić suggests that one of the reasons why integration has been so successful in Croatia is because of the historical presence of Muslims in the country while, in other European areas, Muslim immigration has largely occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. Integration in Croatia was supported through legislation recognising the status of Islam in 1916 as well as strengthening institutional organisation. Moreover, ‘the state's openness to the integration of the Muslim community … is followed by the readiness of this community to be integrated into society without losing its religious identity’ (p. 245).
Expanding the geographic focus of the book, Hans Leaman explores how a commitment to the Lutheran legacy has influenced American and German Protestants’ views towards immigration and ethnic diversity. While this sense of legacy leads some Protestants to support acceptance, others believe western society ought to be protected from non-egalitarian influences and thus reject immigration from non-Western cultures. Leaman demonstrates how these views have impacted on modern political campaigns and immigration policies in the United States and Germany.
E. S. Kempson concludes the volume by considering whether theory and practice are distinguishable in relation to ideas about toleration and religious freedom and the ‘real-world’ experiences of people living in confessionally mixed areas. Reflecting on the volume's inter-disciplinary contributions, Kempson notes that while ‘theory and practice may be analytically distinguishable, in reality they are rarely separable’ (pp. 274–5). Kempson suggests that theology and religious studies can facilitate conversations between academics and non-academics, as well as religious and non-religious groups in order to develop a cross-creedal and inter-world view of freedom and toleration.
There has been an increasing effort to draw parallels between issues facing modern societies and how pre-modern societies engaged with similar social, political, religious and cultural problems. Historians often lament the failure of modern governments and communities to learn from the behaviours and actions of our collective forebears; thus endeavours to stimulate inter-disciplinary and cross-chronological discourse are very welcome. While there is a clear argument for beginning the volume in the seventeenth century, Leaman's acknowledgement of how the Reformations of the sixteenth century informed discourse on religious toleration and freedom adds important nuance to the collection which was less apparent in some of the other chapters. None the less, the volume serves as an excellent example of how we can (and, perhaps, should) draw on the past to help inform responses to modern social, religious and political problems.
