Defining Harm: Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law (Law and Society) - Hardcover

Lori G. Beaman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0774814292 ISBN 13: 9780774814294

Publisher: UBC Press, 2008

Synopsis

A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizen and of the limits of religious freedom, this book demonstrates that the stakes in debates on religious freedom are not just about beliefs and practices but also have implications for the construction of citizenship in a diverse nation. Lori Beaman looks at the case of Jehovah's Witness Bethany Hughes who was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction, reflecting a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom and reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen.

About this title

Synopsis:

"Defining Harm" offers a genealogy of religious freedom in a social climate of risk and fear. It is also the story of Bethany Hughes, a member of the Jehovah's Witness, and her legal battle to define the parameters of her medical treatment. Hughes refused to accept blood transfusions prescribed by physicians as part of her treatment for cancer.The B.H. case, as it was known in the courts, reflects a particular moment in the socio-legal treatment of religious freedom, and it reveals the specific intersection of religious, medical, legal, and other discourses in the governance of the religious citizen. Drawing from literature on risk society, governance, feminist legal theory, and religious rights, Defining Harm demonstrates how Bethany Hughes was denied her right to refuse treatment on the basis of her religious conviction as a Jehovah's Witness or as a mature minor.A powerful examination of the governance of a religious citizen and of the limits of religious freedom, "Defining Harm" will appeal to scholars and students in law and the social sciences, as well as to activists, policy-makers, and general readers interested in the relationships among religion, law, and government.

About the Author:

Lori G. Beaman is the Canada Research Chair in the Contextualization of Religion in a Diverse Canada at the University of Ottawa.

About this edition

• Publisher: UBC Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0774814292
• ISBN 13: 9780774814294
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200