About the Book
Although many books on terrorism and religious extremism have been published in the years since 9/11, none of them written by Western authors call for the curtailment of religious freedom and freedom of expression for the sake of greater security. Issues like torture, domestic surveillance, and unlawful detentions have dominated the literature in this area, but few, if any, major scholars have questioned the vast allowances made by Western nations for the freedoms of religion and speech. Freedom from Religion challenges the almost sacrosanct inviolability of these two civil liberties. By drawing the connection between politically-correct tolerance of extremist speech and the rise of terrorist activity, this book sets the context for its unique proposal that governments should introduce new limits on religious practice within their borders. To demonstrate the wisdom of this course, the author presents the disparate policies and security circumstances of five countries: the U.S., the UK, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Israel. The book benefits not just from the author's own counter-terrorism experience in Israel and the U.S. but also from an international advisory group of leading scholars from all five of the countries under review.
This second edition includes significant new material analyzing the trial of Warren Jeffs, self-censorship in the face of religious sensitivity, religious extremism and violence in Israel, and the complicated tension in the Netherlands between speech and religion.
In it, Guiora responds to public discussion and criticism provoked by the proposal presented in the first edition that governments impose limits on religious extremist practices and speech within their borders. In doing so, Guiora sheds new light on the existential and practical predicaments confronting civil democratic society: how much intolerance should the nation-state tolerate and to whom does government owe a duty.
About the Author :
Amos N. Guiora is Professor of Law at S. J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah where he teaches Criminal Law, Global Perspectives on Counter-terrorism, Religion and Terrorism, and National Security Law. Professor Guiora was awarded the S.J. Quinney College of Law Faculty Scholarship Award, 2011. Professor Guiora is a Member of the American Bar Association's Law and National Security Advisory Committee, a Research Associate at the University of Oxford, Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict and a Research Fellow at the International Institute on Counter-Terrorism, The Interdisciplinary Center. He was awarded a Senior Specialist Fulbright Fellowship for The Netherlands in 2008, served for 19 years in the Israel Defense Forces as Lieutenant Colonel (retired), and held a number of senior command positions, including Commander of the IDF School of Military Law and Legal Advisor to the Gaza Strip.
Review :
"Guiora's book distinguishes itself from much of what has been written in the field by a
realistic estimate of the threat which terrorism poses. It is also the first book that convincingly tackles the problem of how freedom of speech and terrorism are related. Guiora's expert knowledge makes him an ideal guide through this subject. He gives a vivid impression of the way many policy makers, politicians, and civil servants think about the problem of terrorism."
-Professor Paul Cliteur, University of Leiden, Netherlands
"This book will provoke much debate in the legal community and far beyond. While I disagree with Amos Guiora's conclusions, I applaud his candid and compelling discussion of a challenging question that should certainly be forthrightly debated: whether legal protections for religious speech and conduct should be reduced in order to counter the threat posed by religiously motivated terrorists. Even for those of us who urge that the answer should be 'No, ' Guiora's impassioned work must be reckoned with."
-Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law, New York Law School, Former President, American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008)
Recommended by Larry Solum's Legal Theory Blog.
"The book is readable and engaging, and perhaps most of all very provocative...Guiora's book FREEDOM FROM RELIGION is part of Oxford University Press's Terrorism and Global Justice series, which the press bills on the book jacket as publising 'thought provoking and topical monographs.' Guiora's book is that -- though provoking and topical...The book is useful for a wide range of upper level undergraduate and graduate courses. It can fit in with courses on civil rights and civil liberties, religion and politics, terrorism, and comparative constitutional law."
-John C. Blakeman, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point, Law and Politics Book Review
"Whatever one thinks of Guiora's suggestions, he has performed a notable service in confronting the threat that terrorism poses and the question of where a line should properly be drawn with regard to free speech. The questions he addresses will be with us for some time, and he has provided an important road map of the issues involved. Readers will reach many different conclusions, but Guiora has placed the question on the table, and, for that, all of us are enriched."
- Allan C. Brownfeld, nationally syndicated columnist, Associate Editor of The Lincoln Review
International Journal of Intelligence Ethics
"For my work as member of the Dutch parliament, I have to read many books about many subjects. Among those subjects is freedom of speech. When I read a description of the book Freedom from Religion, I was very enthusiastic right away. My enthusiasm only grew as I read the book itself. It is written in a clear, accessible style, and I can recommend it to everyone who is interested in one of the most challenging problems that our society faces today."
-Lilian Helder, Member of Parliament, the Netherlands
"Amos Guiora has produced a challenging and thought-provoking book that seeks to challenge conventional wisdom on the importance of religious freedom in a civil society faced with the challenges of religious extremism. The author draws extensively on his own background as a lawyer, academic, and member of the Israeli Defense Forces and on interviews conducted with hundreds of policy makers, analysts, and academics...Freedom from Religion tackles important issues and should be read by all those interested in the challenge presented by religious extremism."
-Lee Marsden, Journal of Church and State
"Professor Guiora writes with the conviction and passion born of a 20-year career in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the Israeli Defense Forces - work in counterterrorism that brought him into daily contact with the necessity of balancing 'legitimate, individual civil rights with equally legitimate national security considerations.' (xvi) The second edition is expanded somewhat from the first to address developments since 2009 and feedback the author received on the first edition. This work is recommended for academic law libraries, and would also complement any public policy or constitutional collection."
- Michael Lines, Faculty and Student Services Librarian, Diana M. Priestly Law Library, University of Victoria
"According to Amos N. Guiora, a professor at S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah who spent nearly twenty years as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, mixing together the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion can actually create a lethal cocktail. Rather than making the citizen who exercises both of these rights in tandem virtually invulnerable to government restrictions or punishment, he contends that the level of protection received should be less than the sum of its parts." - Jane E. Kirtley, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
