Medda-Windischer, Roberta; Kerstin Wonisch, and Alexandra C. Budabin, eds. 2024. Religious minorities in pluralistic societies. Critical perspectives on the accommodation of religious diversities. Leiden: Brill. 240 p.

Abstract

This text presents a review of the edited volume Religious minorities in pluralistic societies. Critical perspectives on the accommodation of religious diversities, edited by Roberta Medda-Windischer, Kerstin Wonisch and Alexandra Cosima Budabin. The volume addresses one of the major challenges facing contemporary pluralistic societies: the management of the claims of minority religious groups in contexts characterised by increasing cultural and religious diversity. Adopting an empirical approach, the book is structured around a series of case studies located in Europe and the Middle East, through which specific policies and measures of religious accommodation are analysed from the perspectives of equality, religious freedom and social cohesion. The review examines the main contributions of the volume, paying particular attention to issues such as legal pluralism, the interaction between religious and civil jurisdictions, the risks of discrimination associated with certain models of recognition, and the impact of recent migratory flows on existing regulatory frameworks. The cases of Greece, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy and Russia serve to illustrate the persistent tension between the recognition of religious diversity and the protection of individual rights in democratic regimes. The analysis highlights that the reconciliation of religious accommodation and equality does not lend itself to simple or unilateral solutions, underscoring the need for dialogical, flexible and contextually sensitive approaches aimed at fostering social cohesion in increasingly diverse societies.