Religion, Racism, Rights: Landmarks in the History of Modern Anglo-American Law
Religion, Race, Rights is a rewriting of the history of modern western law. Challenging the assumption that law is an objective, rational and secular enterprise, it shows that the rule of law is historically intertwined with Christian morality, the forces of capitalism responsible for exploiting minorities, and conceptions of individualism bound up in the 16th century Reformation and rapidly developed in the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. Drawing upon landmark legal decisions...
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Religion, Race, Rights is a rewriting of the history of modern western law. Challenging the assumption that law is an objective, rational and secular enterprise, it shows that the rule of law is historically intertwined with Christian morality, the forces of capitalism responsible for exploiting minorities, and conceptions of individualism bound up in the 16th century Reformation and rapidly developed in the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. Drawing upon landmark legal decisions and historical events, the book emphasises that justice is not blind, because our concept of justice changes over time and is linked to economic power, social values, and moral sensibilities that are neither universal nor apolitical. The author's focus on the historical interconnections between religion, race and rights shines a bright light on contemporary legal issues and foregrounds the cultural specificity of western legal concepts. Moreover Darian-Smith shows how, in a global political economy, Anglo-American law is not always transportable, transferable, or translatable across political landscapes and religious communities.
List of Figures ixAcknowledgements xiPreface xiiiIntroduction: Connecting Religion, Race and Rights 1I Moving toward Separation of Church and State 19Chapter 1 Martin Luther and the Challenge to the Catholic Church (1517) 21Religion: Protest and Reform 22Race: The Infidel Turk 36Rights: Demanding Secular Law 42Conclusion 49Chapter 2 Executing the King: The Trial of Charles I (1649) 52Religion: Protestant and Catholic Violence 54Race: Religious Intolerance and Legalizing Racism 65Rights: Defining the Rights of King, Parliament and Subject 74Conclusion 84Chapter 3 Revolution and Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791) 88Religion: The Age of Reason and the Challenge of Science 93Race: Questioning Slavery and Discrimination 101Rights: Law's Coming of Age in Rights of Man 106Conclusion 112II Capitalism, Colonialism and Nationalism 115Chapter 4 Sugar, Slaves, Rebellion, Murder (1865) 117Religion: The 'Divine Institution' of Slavery 124Race: Scientific Racism 133Rights: Empire's Right to Massacre 138Conclusion 146Chapter 5 Demanding the Eight-Hour Workday (1886) 148Religion: Law as Faith 153Race: Racializing Labor 161Rights: Workers versus Laissez-Faire Capitalism 169Conclusion 177Chapter 6 Civilizing Native Americans-The Dawes Act (1887) 180Religion: Missionaries and Heathens 189Race: Determining the Race Within 196Rights: Limiting Native Sovereignty 201Conclusion 207III Religion, Race and Rights in a Global Era 209Chapter 7 Nuremberg's Legacy (1945-49) 211Religion: Confronting Religious Pluralism 218Race: Rethinking Race 230Rights: Implementing Human Rights 237Conclusion 245Chapter 8 Democracy, Neoliberalism, and the New Crusades 248Religion: Exploiting God 255Race: 'Saving Brown Women' 265Rights: The Challenges of Neoliberalism 276Conclusion 282Conclusion: The Resurgence of Faith 285Bibliography 293Index 319
