Banning Burqas: The Perspective of Postsecular Comparative Law

The author examines not so much whether burqa bans are legal, but rather focuses on what they symbolize, ie as exercises in national identity-building based on differentiation. The author proposes a model he calls postsecular comparative law - expanded comparative law that creates space for religious laws as objects of comparison. It its focus on religious laws, postsecular comparative law can help bring to the fore essential differences between state law and religious law, while also demonstrating underappreciated similarities. Postsecular comparative law focuses not only on religious law - it also allows for new and hopefully richer understandings of the modern state.