Can God and Caesar Coexist?: Balancing Religious Freedom and International Law

by Robert F. Drinan

Father Robert F. Drinan--priest, scholar, lawyer, politician, activist, and ethicist--has spent his life working to strengthen human rights. In this important book, Father Drinan explores the state of religious freedom worldwide, arguing that international law and legal institutions have not gone far enough to protect religious freedom. The international community, says Father Drinan, has been slow to recognize the urgent need of balancing the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300111150
• ISBN13: 9780300111156
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

A Balanced, Refereshing Look at Religious Freedom

I am a 3L at Georgetown Law and a student of Father Drinan's. For those of you not lucky enough to spend 2 hours a week learning from one of the most intelligent, experienced and compassionate men of our time (and perhaps the time before) this book will offer you a moving and reasoned insight into the global state of religious freedom. Father Drinan is a scholar, activist, former congressman, lawyer and Jesuit priest. In this book, he approaches the concept of religious freedom as a secular human right -- a right that has been all but ignored by the international community despite language explicitly published by the UN recognizing the importance of this right. This is not a book of sermons. Father Drinan argues that the international community must come together and resolve not only to ensure these rights, but to develop and submit to a method -- or forum -- of enforcement. No stranger to politics, Father Drinan acknowledges obstacles and stresses the role of governments as secular bodies meant to ensure rights rather than religious bodies mobilized to further the aims of any one faith. There is no one better qualified than Father Drinan to write on this subject and you are sure to enjoy the disquisition.