Maintaining a Faith Community: The Role of the Law

自9/11和7/7恐怖袭击以来，对信仰社区和更广泛的世俗社区之间关系的关注一直很突出。许多媒体的注意力以及学术研究都集中在穆斯林社区，并审查了该社区对规范和习俗的依附，这些规范和习俗不同于更广泛的世俗社区的规范和习俗，部分与之不相容。由于坎特伯雷大主教声明穆斯林法的要素（例如离婚程序）将被纳入英国立法是“不可避免的”，人们对宗教法和世俗法之间互动的兴趣进一步提高（威廉姆斯，2008年）拟议的项目将概述联合王国关于宗教法和国家法之间关系的辩论的现状，穆斯林和犹太人社区的情况。然后，报告将把这种关系的某些方面与法国的情况进行比较。要比较的方面是：1。确定可以代表社区与国家谈判的代表，并确定宗教法律的权威2.在婚姻和离婚的背景下，宗教和国家法律之间的关系;以及3.宗教法庭在解决纠纷过程中的作用，特别是离婚。已经有大量关于婚姻和离婚方面宗教和国家法律之间关系的信息，包括首席研究员和研究助理撰写的材料（见出版物列表）。拟议的项目将把这项工作的背景下，其他英国的研究，并制定一个比较的层面。它还将为进一步的比较研究奠定基础，建立一个来自美国、加拿大和以色列以及其他拥有大量穆斯林和犹太人口的欧盟国家的学者网络。拟议的项目将设在威尔士大学纽波特的妇女社会研究中心，并得到卡迪夫大学相关领域工作的同事的支持。他们与法国和其他地方的宗教和法律研究人员有必要的联系。首席调查员是家庭法专家，特别是在强迫婚姻、一夫多妻制和家庭关系的人权方面的专家。该研究助理在卡迪夫大学担任兼职教职，目前正在进行宗教法和仲裁法的研究，并在比较法研究-特别是关于法国法律的研究-方面具有丰富的经验。世界信息社会研究中心的活动将促进项目研究结果的传播（见“学术受益者”）。该研究助理是卡迪夫大学法律和宗教中心的联系成员，因此可以通过在该中心主持下组织的网络或该中心成员积极参与的网络进一步传播（见“影响摘要”）通过提供比较性的见解，该项目将使研究法律和宗教等问题的一系列学者受益，家庭法和宗教社会学。它还将使宗教法院和机构以及一系列决策者受益。

Concern about the relationship between faith communities and the wider secular community have been prominent since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 7/7. Much media attention, as well as academic research, has focused on the Muslim community and has examined the attachment of the community to norms and customs that are different from, and in part incompatible with, those of the wider secular community. Interest in the interaction between religious and secular laws was further heightened as a result of the statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury that it was "inevitable" that elements of the Muslim law, such as divorce proceedings, would be incorporated into British legislation (Williams, 2008)The proposed project will offer an overview of the current state of the debate in the UK on the relationship between religious law and state law, with reference to both the Muslim and Jewish communities. It will then compare selected aspects of that relationship with the position in France. The aspects to be compared are:1. the identification of representatives who can negotiate on behalf of the community with the state, and the identification of religious legal authorities 2. the relationship between religious and state law in the context of marriage and divorce; and3. the role of religious courts in the process of dispute resolution, with particular reference to divorce.There is already a significant body of information on the relationship between religious and state law in the context of marriage and divorce, including material written by the Principal Investigator and the Research Associate (see Publications lists). The proposed project will place this work in the context of other UK studies, and develop a comparative dimension. It will also lay the groundwork for further comparative research by establishing a network of scholars in this field from the US, Canada and Israel as well as other EU States with significant Muslim and Jewish populations.The proposed project will be based within the Women in Society Research Centre (WISRC) at the University of Wales, Newport with the support of colleagues working in related fields at Cardiff University, who have the necessary contacts with religion and law researchers in France and elsewhere. The Principal Investigator is a family law specialist and expert in particular in the areas of forced marriage, polygamy and the human rights dimension of family relationships. The Research Associate has a part-time teaching post at Cardiff University, is currently conducting research on religious law and the law of arbitration and has extensive experience of comparative law research - notably with reference to French law. Dissemination of the project findings will be facilitated by the activities of WISRC (see "Academic Beneficiaries"). The Research Associate is an associate member of the Cardiff University Centre for Law and Religion (CUCLR) and so further dissemination will be possible through networks organised under the aegis of CUCLR, or in which members of that Centre are active (see "Impact Summary") By providing comparative insights, the project will benefit a range of scholars who research, inter alia, law and religion, family law and the sociology of religion. It will also benefit religious courts and institutions and a range of policy-makers.