%0 Journal Article
%T Nationalism, Secularism and Liberal Neutrality: The Danish Case of Judges and Religious Symbols
%A Nils Holtug
%J Les Ateliers de l¡¯¨¦thique
%D 2011
%I Universit¨¦ de Montr¨¦al
%X In 2009, a law was passed in the Danish parliament, according to which judges cannot wear religious symbols in courts of law. First, I trace the development of this legislation from resistance to Muslim religious practices on the nationalist right to ideas in mainstream Danish politics about secularism and state neutrality ¨C a process I refer to as ¡®liberalization¡¯. Second, I consider the plausibility of such liberal justifications for restrictions on religious symbols in the public sphere and, in particular, for the ban on the wearing of religious symbols by judges. I argue that such justifications are flawed and so are not plausible corollaries of anti-Islamic justifications originating on the nationalist right.En 2009, le Parlement danois a vot¨¦ une loi qui stipule que l¡¯interdiction pour les de porter des signes religieux dans les tribunaux. Dans ce texte, je retrace en premier lieu le d¨¦veloppement de cette l¨¦gislation, depuis la r¨¦sistance aux pratiques musulmanes de la droite nationaliste jusqu¡¯aux id¨¦es r¨¦pandues dans la politique danoise ¨¤ propos du s¨¦cularisme et de la neutralit¨¦ d¡¯¨¦tat ¨C un processus que je qualifie de   lib¨¦ralisation  . En second lieu, je consid¨¨re la plausibilit¨¦ de telles justifications lib¨¦rales en ce qui concerne les restrictions sur la pr¨¦sence de symboles religieux dans la sph¨¨re publique et, en particulier, l¡¯interdiction faite aux juges de porter des signes religieux. Je d¨¦fends l¡¯id¨¦e que de telles justifications sont d¨¦ficientes et ne constituent pas des corolaires plausibles des justifications antimusulmanes en provenance de la droite nationaliste.
%K ethics
%K nationalism
%K secularism
%K neutrality
%U http://www.erudit.org/revue/ateliers/2011/v6/n2/1008034ar.pdf