Religion

=== Law ===
{{Main|Law and religion}}
The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since 1980.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witte |first1=John |year=2012 |title=The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=327–354 |doi=10.1017/s0956618x12000348|s2cid=145170469 }}</ref> Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non-establishment, but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective.<ref>Norman Doe, ''Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction'' (2011).</ref><ref>W. Cole Durham and Brett G. Scharffs, eds., ''Law and religion: national, international, and comparative perspectives'' (Aspen Pub, 2010).</ref> Specialists have explored themes in Western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, and discipline and love.<ref>John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, eds., ''Christianity and Law: An Introduction'' (Cambridge U.P. 2008)</ref> Common topics of interest include marriage and the family<ref>John Witte Jr., ''From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition'' (1997).</ref> and human rights.<ref>John Witte, Jr., ''The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism'' (2008).</ref> Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elizabeth Mayer |first1=Ann |year=1987 |title=Law and Religion in the Muslim Middle East |journal=American Journal of Comparative Law |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=127–184 |jstor=840165 |doi=10.2307/840165}}</ref> and pagan Rome.<ref>Alan Watson, ''The state, law, and religion: pagan Rome'' (University of Georgia Press, 1992).</ref>

Studies have focused on [[secularization]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferrari |first1=Silvio |year=2012 |title=Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=355–370 |doi=10.1017/s0956618x1200035x|s2cid=145347158 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Palomino |first1=Rafael |year=2012 |title=Legal dimensions of secularism: challenges and problems |url=https://eprints.ucm.es/12247/ |journal=Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice |volume=2 |pages=208–225 |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806153405/http://eprints.ucm.es/12247/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In particular, the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bennoune |first1=Karima |year=2006 |title=Secularism and human rights: A contextual analysis of headscarves, religious expression, and women's equality under international law |journal=Columbia Journal of Transnational Law |volume=45 |page=367 }}</ref>