Introduction

The image of state law as an institutionally separate, ideologically neutral and normatively superior entity which orders our society is no longer tenable. Over the past few decades a large number of critiques have established that law is embedded in and indissociable from its cultural context, that far from being neutral it is ideologically grounded in politically weighted presuppositions, and that its once-absolute superiority is counteracted by the existence of plural normative environments within which contemporary subjects of law are situated.

In contemporary Western nations, religion is often regarded by law as a matter of private freedom, as though it occupies a space which is other to law, the state, and our public sphere. In this, the ‘West’ is not itself unified: within the Anglosphere, for instance, Britain has an established church, while varying doctrines of separation between church and state or freedom of religion operate in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There are also differences in whether political discourse is inflected with, or avoids, explicitly religious considerations.

Recently, religion has encroached upon the ‘public’ consciousness in ways which two decades ago might have seemed implausible. The causes and manifestations of this encroachment are undoubtedly complicated. In Australian domestic politics, for instance, family-oriented politicians espousing conservative Christian ethics (though sometimes denying formal affiliation with Christian organisations) have been elected to state and federal parliaments.