A Question of Balance: A Study of Legal Equality and State Neutrality in the United States, France, and the Netherlands - Hardcover

A Question of Balance provides a captivating comparative study of an increasingly salient concern. * Journal of Church and State * Not all cultural differences are equally different. Brenda Norton takes this fact very seriously. Why is it that a nun wearing full habit with wimple goes unnoticed while women with headscarves or with niqab provoke disapproval and outrage? This question leads Norton to explore equality and neutrality both in theory and in context, comparing the different reactions to Muslims' differences in France, the Netherlands, and the United States. Beyond dissimilarities, explained by the country history and political culture, equality and toleration, universal principles of Western liberal democracy, are put under stress in the encounter with alien cultures and non-Christian religion. -- Elisabetta Galeotti, Universita del Piemonte Orientale

This book offers a cross-national analysis of judicial decisions and legislative action in three religiously pluralistic Western democracies-the United States, France, and the Netherlands-that shows how each balances individual rights with communal bonds and adheres to or retreats from human rights norms for women and religious practices.