In the autumn of 2011, Douglas Kmiec, who earlier that year had resigned his post as US ambassador to Malta, gave a lecture at the University of Southern California for the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies. Kmiec has a record of both scholarship and pubic service. He served in the Office of Legal Counsel to president Ronald Reagan and president George H.W. Bush. During the 2008 presidential election, he caused a stir when, as a Republican, he endorsed the Democratic candidate Barack Obama. In July 2009, he was nominated by president Obama to serve as ambassador in Malta. As ambassador, Kmiec undertook, with explicit support of the President, a number of initiatives to encourage diplomatic engagement with communities of faith. After a public rebuke by the Inspector General of the State Department for this activity, Kmiec resigned (p. 5). He is currently the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University School of Law.
This book contains Kmiec's 2011 lecture, entitled ‘Secularism Crucified?’, and subsequent responses to this lecture. These responses are thematically ordered as follows: ‘Relations between Church and State’ (Michael Anderheiden and Geoffrey R. Watson); ‘The Catholic Church, Moral Authority, and Secularism’ (Hans Joas and Massimo Franco); ‘Secularism and International Affairs’ (Erin K. Wilson and Stephen Calleya). The book ends with an epilogue by Kmiec on the future of secularism in public religious life, in which he responds to his critics. The dialogue in the book is organised around five important questions. First, is secularism alive? Secondly, is secularism good for religion, for democracy? Thirdly, is the relationship of religion and state a matter of prudential tweaks, or is a substantial development needed in jurisprudence of existing democracies? Fourthly, what responsibility do religious actors have toward the common good when secular policy clashes with religious belief? Finally, what contributions can the Catholic tradition make, if any, to the current regime of state-religion engagement in the United States? (p. 6).
Starting point of the conversation in this book is the 2011 decision by the European Court of Human Rights (Lautsi and Others v. Italy), which upheld an Italian mandate to display the crucifix in public school rooms. This case leads Kmiec to conclude that ‘secularism has been crucified’. It seems that Europe is more hospitable to state engagement of religion than the United States (p. 11). That is, with regard to Christianity. Kmiec notices that whenever Islam is involved, it is being judged by the Court to be incompatible with the democratic values of the European Convention of Human Rights (Refah Partisi v. Turkey, 2001) (p. 24). In his discussion of both cases, Kmiec compares these judgements with recent cases in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Geoffrey R. Watson uses the same legal approach in chapter 3, but I am not completely convinced by this approach. The status of the ECHR and its rulings is not the same as that of the US Supreme Court. Furthermore, reading through the articles, one is occasionally given the impression that part of the argument that the book seems to want to make is: ‘why can't Europe be more like the United States?’.
This book seems to offer a predominant outsiders' perspective on important legal developments with regard to the status of religion in the European public square. That, in itself, can be a very useful contribution to the academic debate. However, in this case, the outsider's perspective means that important elements of the European relations between religion and the State, between religions and European politics have been completely overlooked. And I am not sure why. To give a striking example, Kmiec is happy to discuss the interaction between the president of the United States and the American bishops, but fails to notice the work of European Roman Catholic bishops' conference (COMECE), the ecumenical Conference of European Churches (CEC), the EKD (Evangelical Church Germany) and various Orthodox churches (Russia, Cyprus, Greece) with European institutions, including the European Commission, in Brussels. This dialogue is not hidden, but is based on article 17(3) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (Lisbon Treaty 2007). By this article the European Union is committed to dialogue with churches, religious associations, and philosophical and non-confessional organisations. Recognising their identity and their specific contribution, the Union is committed to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these churches and organisations (TFEU, 17:3).
Adding a chapter on this ‘Brussels’-dimension between Hans Joas's contribution on the Catholic Church's interventions in national debates, and Massimo Franco's discussion on the role of the Holy See (which he mistakenly calls ‘the Vatican’) in world-politics would have provided the reader with a more complete picture of the current state of the debate. At the same time, it could have provided some interesting insights in the role and functioning of regional bishops' conferences, which are currently under discussion at the highest levels of the Church. A surprising detail, at least to this Dutch reviewer, was Franco's claim that the Netherlands has a Lutheran majority, which is not, and never has been the case (For those interested, the figures in 2013 were: 26% Roman Catholics, 16% Protestants, 5% Muslims, 6% others, i.e., Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, 47% of the population does not define themselves as religious).
Reading Stephen Calleya's chapter on a strategic perspective for a new era in Euro-Mediterranean relations is like reading a prophet, but too late. Calleya warns that Europe should get ready to the rising challenge of irregular migration in the Mediterranean in the wake of the Arab Spring, and the impact this could have on national attitudes towards migrants. At the time of writing Calleya could not have foreseen how the Calais refugee camps, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the attacks in Paris on November 13th, 2015 would change European attitudes and politics almost beyond recognition.
In conclusion, we should welcome studies in which practitioners in the field of law and religion share their academic reflections on their experiences with the world. In this respect the book contains some valuable insights and thoughtful arguments. But because Kmiec and his interlocutors have not engaged seriously with an important part of the European public square, Brussels, I feel that the reader is a bit let down.
