Developer of intellectual frameworks for understanding pluralism, secularism, the secular and human rights as pertaining to faith and religious rights and freedoms and legal ethics
Iain Tyrrell Benson (born 1955) is a legal philosopher and practising legal consultant. The main focus of his work in relation to law and society has been to examine some of the various meanings that underlie terms of common but confused usage. His work towards an understanding of secular and secularism has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada[1] and the Constitutional Court of South Africa.[2] He has also given critical study to the terms pluralism,faith,believer,unbeliever,liberalism and accommodation and examined the implications for various legal and non-legal usages.[citation needed]
Benson was a member of the draft committee for the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms,[3] a document which sets out core aspects of citizenship and the rights and freedoms of religion and conscience in a constitutional democracy. He has also made significant contributions to the understanding of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and religious freedom under Canadian law.[4][5][6] He was retained by the Government of Canada to author material concerning Religion and Public Policy as an aspect of Federal Multi-Culturalism Policy and is an ongoing expert advisor to the South African Council for the Promotion of Religious Freedoms.[7]
An advocate that the public sphere should be open and inclusive of all citizens and their groups,[8] whether their faith and belief commitments are based on non-religious or religious beliefs,Iain Benson was the first Executive Director of the Centre for Cultural Renewal,[9] a non-partisan,non-denominational charitable foundation with status in both Canada and the United States,dedicated to examining the nature of pluralism with particular reference to the associational rights dimension of religion and expression.[10] In 2010 he was appointed one of ten inaugural directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism[11] along with Kofi Annan and Adrienne Clarkson and chaired the Aga Khan IV. He was also the invited rapporteur on Law and Religious Diversity in Canada and South Africa to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican City in May 2011 and was appointed as expert adviser to the South African Council for the Protection and Promotion of Religious Rights and Freedoms in September that same year.
In his capacity as a constitutional and human rights lawyer,Benson has written and lectured extensively in the area of ethics,virtues and pluralism,and acted as an advisor in the fields of medical ethics and bioethics across Canada,Saudi Arabia,Eastern Europe,South Africa,Australia and New Zealand.
Some of Benson's writings have appeared or been translated in French,Italian,German,Afrikaans,Flemish and Spanish.
Biography
Iain Benson,the eldest of three children born to Kenneth and Margaret (née Scott) Benson,was born in Edinburgh,Scotland,and raised primarily in Victoria,British Columbia,Canada. The family moved from Edinburgh to Quesnel,BC,and then to Prince George,BC,where Kenneth Benson worked as a Medical Health Officer and was later appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for the government of British Columbia.
Benson attended Oak Bay Senior Secondary School (1974) and obtained degrees from Queen's University,Ontario (English Literature BA 1980),University of Windsor,Ontario (Law JD 1984),St Catharine's College,Cambridge,England (Law MA 1987),the University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg,South Africa (Law,PhD 2013) with a thesis entitled:An Associational Framework for the Reconciliation of Competing Rights Claims Involving the Freedom of Religion (supervisor:Iain Currie). Some of his many published peer reviewed articles,book chapters and a short book,are available on-line on the Social Science Research Network
In 1984 he worked as a summer research assistant based at Oxford University,England,and was called the following year to the bar of British Columbia. Benson practised with the firm Alexander Holburn Beaudin &Laing before becoming a solicitor in 1987 with the British Columbia Industrial Relations Council (BCIRC). In 1989 he was appointed Senior Solicitor for the council and practised there through the organisation's development into the Labour Relations Board of British Columbia. He was appointed senior research fellow for the Centre for Cultural Renewal in 1994,and in 2000 became the centre's first Executive Director.
In 2008 Benson was invited to become the first non-national research associate for the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional,Human Rights,Public and International Law (SAIFAC).[12] The following year he was appointed Extraordinary Professor of Law in the Department of Constitutional and Philosophical Law at the University of the Free State,South Africa,[13] became a senior research fellow for the Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life at the University of Alberta[14][15] and took up a position as Senior Associate Counsel at Canadian Law Firm,Miller Thomson.[16]
In 2010 Benson was appointed to the executive committee of the Foundation Board of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa and became a Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. In 2011 he was admitted as a Member of the International Association of Constitutional Law at the ICAL meeting in Mexico and in 2013 became a Member of the International Consortium of Law and Religion Scholars ICLARS,Milan Italy;He is Senior Associate Fellow,International Institute for Hermeneutics,Albert-Ludwigs-Univ.,Freiburg,Germany 2015,ongoing;Research Fellow,Religious Freedom and Business Foundation,Maryland,US (2014,ongoing);senior research fellow,Canadian Centre for The Responsibility to Protect (R2P),Munk Centre,Trinity College,Univ. of Toronto (2014,ongoing);Editorial Advisor,Canadian Race Relations Inst. (2015,ongoing) and Member of the African Consortium of Law and Religions Scholars ACLARS in Namibia 2015. In July 2015 he was invited to become an advising academic to the Open University project on Jurisprudence,UK.;in January 2014 he was Visiting Professor,Faculty of Law,University of Western Ontario,Canada where he taught a course on Comparative Constitutional Law. For the term 2014-2015 he was Visiting Scholar,Massey College,University of Toronto,Canada and as of January 2016 took up a position as Professor of Law at the School of Law,The University of Notre Dame,Sydney,Australia where he teaches Public International Law,Contemporary Legal Issues and Legal Philosophy.
Benson is a Roman Catholic and has seven children and four grandchildren.[17]
Activities
Benson carries out written and research work,international lectures,government and private consultation,court appearances before all levels of court in Canada,media interviews and invited academic and government colloquia and panels,in various areas.
In the early twenty-first century he was one of two non-nationals on the Continuation Committee drafting the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms[18] under Section 234 of that country's constitution,[19] and addressed the ceremony for the public signing of the charter in Johannesburg in October 2010. Earlier that same year,Iain Benson delivered the keynote paper on religious inclusivity in Canada[20] to the Canadian Embassy to the Holy See,and discussed the issues of accommodation of religion in the public sphere to the Centre for Cultures and Languages in Africa.
Benson works in the field of ethics[21] and constitutional law through his involvement with the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional,Human Rights,Public and International Law,The Chester Ronning Centre in Alberta,Canada,and as Professor Extraordinary in the Faculty of Law,Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law at the University of the Free State. In 2008 he was an invited panel respondent to Margaret Somerville's "Ethics on a Wire" Keynote Address at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Canada[22] and in 2009 addressed the American Political Science Association hosted by the American Public Philosophy Institute with a lecture entitled "Standing Freedom on its Head:"Equality" and "Non-discrimination" and the Suppression of Democratic Liberties:Law,Liberty and Convergence".[23]
In November 2007 Benson was invited to submit a proposal to the Canadian Federal Government Policy Research Initiative on "Religion and Public Policy". He wrote a background "think-piece" on religion and public policy in Canada entitled "Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada:The Need for a Paradigm Shift".[24] He has also appeared before several Canadian government bodies,including the Royal Commissions on Education and New Reproductive Technologies and the Law Reform Commission formed to examine abortion. He has appeared before the Senate Special Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance (re:Pension Reform) and numerous House of Commons of Canada Committees.
Benson continues to lecture across Canada,the United States,Europe,Saudi Arabia and South Africa,giving papers on topics ranging from,constitutional law and religion,literature,the nature of the "secular","secularism","pluralism",and issues related to ethics and the accommodation of differing beliefs.[26] He has stated that his life's ambition is to "redpill the masses".
Legal philosophy and political theory
Benson has published work on the accommodation of religious and non-religious rights,and has worked to promote the idea of shared civic virtues serving the common good across all belief communities. His published opinion is that all citizens have faith and belief in something,whether these beliefs are grounded in religion or not,and that the public sphere is obliged to act with balance.[citation needed]
Benson's "Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the 'Secular'"[27] was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada (in its landmark 2002 Chamberlain decision[1]). This case concerned whether books on same-sex parented families should be approved at kindergarten grade. In their decision to refer the matter back for a non-discriminatory decision,the court said that the B.C. School Act's insistence on secularism and non-discrimination lies at the heart of this case. [It] provides that "[a]ll schools and Provincial schools must be conducted on strictly secular and non-sectarian principles". It also emphasises that "[t]he highest morality must be inculcated,but no religious dogma or creed is to be taught in a school or Provincial school". The decision cites Benson's article in connection with proper understanding of the concepts of "secular" and "non-sectarian",and says that it is an error to equate"secular" with "non-religious". In subsequent writing,Benson has been critical of the court's apparent adoption of "secularism" as the matter was never argued before them and was not essential to the statutory interpretation before them.[28][29] This work was cited with approval by Justice Albie Sachs in the 2005 decision of the South African Constitutional Court in the Fourie decision.[2]
Benson has also criticised a failure to examine the meaning of "secularism" in the works of most commentators on the "secular" and "secularism" itself,including the work of Charles Taylor. He has been critical of the tendency to assume that "secularism" is a neutral concept,when the origin of the term was within a framework that expressly intended to minimise any public relevance for religions.[30]
Benson has argued that the Canadian approach to a pluralistic society has often overlooked the important role that religions play in the public sphere as well as in the lives of citizens and their groups. He contends that secularism is not neutral regarding religion,and that the term as most people have understood it excludes from "the public sphere" a key component of many citizens' identities,which is their freedom of conscience and religion. Benson further argues that a better understanding of the term "secular" would keep religion and the state jurisdictionally separate while allowing for co-operation and mutual understanding between them. The ultimate goal of this preferred philosophy would be to create a society in which individual and communal differences are accepted and embraced rather than one in which law and politics are viewed as building towards forced "agreement" or "convergence". A "think-piece" paper for the Canadian Federal Government's Policy Research Initiative group on "Religion and Public Policy" (January 2008) was an elaboration of some of his thinking on the issue and highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in the way we approach religion and public policy. It also outlined some of the implications this should have for government actions in relation to multiculturalism in the public sphere,and legal decisions in relation to religious freedom and the principles of accommodation.[31]
More recently he has begun examining the tendency of legal decisions to remove from consideration the communal dimension of religious rights,and has written of the associational dimension of the freedom of religion and its importance to diversity,freedom and a pluralistic society.[32]
Benson's scholarly writings are referred to in many scholarly books and articles and he is called upon frequently to review scholarly manuscripts,articles. He has examined graduate degrees (MTh and DTheol degrees to date).
Other involvements and interests
Iain Benson is a published poet.[33] He was also the editor of Volume VII of the Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton,[34] contributing a critical introduction and several hundred footnotes to Chesterton's novels Manalive,The Ball and the Cross and The Flying Inn. In 2001 Benson addressed the Oxford University,C.S. Lewis society,and became a Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He has been in Canadian Who's Who since 2011.
Publications
Benson remains a prolific author across a range of subjects.[citation needed] Notable selected publications include
Living Together with Disagreement:Pluralism,the Secular,and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada Today[35]
Considering Secularism
Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the 'Secular'
Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada:The Need for a Paradigm Shift
The Case for Religious Inclusivism and the Judicial Recognition of Associational Rights:A Response to Lenta
Unexamined Faiths and the Public Place of Religion:Emerging Insights from the Law
The Freedom of Conscience and Religion in Canada:Challenges and Opportunities
The Jurisdiction of Science:What the Evolution/Creation Debate is Not About
Is Canada Moving Towards or Away from Religious Inclusivity in the Public Sphere?
Physicians and Marriage Commissioners:Accommodation of Differing Beliefs in a Free and Democratic Society
Do 'Values' Mean Anything at All? Implications for Law,Education and Society
The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Volume VII (ed)
Related Research Articles
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations,uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened to a similar position seeking to remove or to minimize the role of religion in any public sphere. Secularism may encapsulate anti-clericalism,atheism,naturalism,non-sectarianism,neutrality on topics of religion,or antireligion. As a philosophy,secularism seeks to interpret life based on principles derived solely from the material world,without recourse to religion. It shifts the focus from religion towards "temporal" and material concerns.
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually,the term refers to the creation of a secular state and to disestablishment,the changing of an existing,formal relationship between the church and the state. The concept originated among early Baptists in America. In 1644,Roger Williams,a puritan minister and founder of the state of Rhode Island and The First Baptist Church in America,was the first public official to call for "a wall or hedge of separation" between "the wilderness of the world" and "the garden of the church." Although the concept is older,the exact phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from "wall of separation between Church &State," a term coined by Thomas Jefferson in his 1802 letter to members of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut. The concept was promoted by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke.
Laïcité is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. Article 1 of the French Constitution is commonly interpreted as the separation of civil society and religious society. It discourages religious involvement in government affairs,especially in the determination of state policies as well as the recognition of a state religion. It also forbids government involvement in religious affairs,and especially prohibits government influence in the determination of religion,such that it includes a right to the free exercise of religion.
A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity,whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion,supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion,and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen based on their religious beliefs,affiliation or lack of either over those with other profiles.
Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Charter") is the section of the Constitution of Canada that lists what the Charter calls "fundamental freedoms" theoretically applying to everyone in Canada,regardless of whether they are a Canadian citizen,or an individual or corporation. These freedoms can be held against actions of all levels of government and are enforceable by the courts. The fundamental freedoms are freedom of expression,freedom of religion,freedom of thought,freedom of belief,freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association.
India since its independence in 1947 has been a secular state. The secular values were enshrined in the constitution of India. India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru is credited with the formation of the secular republic in the modern history of the country. With the Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976,the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However,the Supreme Court of India in the 1994 case S. R. Bommai v. Union of India established the fact that India was secular since the formation of the republic. The judgement established that there is separation of state and religion. It stated "In matters of State,religion has no place. Any State government which pursues nonsecular on policies or nonsecular course of action acts contrary to the constitutional mandate and renders itself amenable to action under Article 356". Furthermore,constitutionally,state-owned educational institutions are prohibited from imparting religious instructions,and Article 27 of the constitution prohibits using tax-payers money for the promotion of any religion.
Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right,allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference.
In Turkey,secularism or laicism was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the Constitution of 1924,which removed the provision declaring that the "Religion of the State is Islam",and with the later reforms of Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,which set the administrative and political requirements to create a modern,democratic,secular state,aligned with Kemalism.
Religious intellectualism in Iran is a process that involves philosophers,sociologists,political scientists and cultural theorists.
The Mouvement laïque québécois (MLQ) is a non-profit organisation whose goal is to defend and promote freedom of conscience,separation of church and state,and secularisation of public institutions in Quebec. It was founded in 1981,developing broader goals from an association devoted primarily to the secularisation of public school curriculum in Quebec.
Article 15 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore guarantees freedom of religion in Singapore. Specifically,Article 15(1) states:"Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it."
Frances Raday is a professor emerita of Elias Lieberman Chair in Labor Law,Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Raday is currently a professor of law at the Haim Striks Law School at Colman College of Management Academic Studies,where she also acts as president of the Concord Center for Integration of International Law in Israel and as head of the school's graduate programs.
Austin Dacey is an American philosopher,writer,and human rights activist whose work concerns secularism,religion,freedom of expression,and freedom of conscience. He is the author of The Secular Conscience:Why Belief Belongs in Public Life,The Future of Blasphemy:Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights,and a 2006 New York Times op-ed entitled "Believing in Doubt," which criticized the ethical views of Pope Benedict. He is a representative to the United Nations for the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the creator and director of The Impossible Music Sessions.
The South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms (SACRRF) is a charter of rights drawn up by South African religious and civil organisations which is intended to define the religious freedoms,rights and responsibilities of South African citizens. The aim of the drafters of the charter is for it to be approved by Parliament in terms of section 234 of the Constitution of South Africa.
The Secularist Movement in Lebanon has emerged as a response to the country's confessionalist system,deeply rooted in a consociationalism framework where top offices are allocated based on religious affiliations. This movement,driven by a growing number of Lebanese citizens,advocates for a shift towards secularism within the national government.
South Africa is a secular state,with freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution.
Secularism in Bangladesh is known as "neutrality of religion" under Bangladeshi law. In the Constitution of Bangladesh,secularism is mentioned in the preamble as one of the fundamental principles of Bangladeshi law. Article 8 enshrines secularism as one of the fundamental principles of state policy. And yet,after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman in 1975,Bangladesh went to military rule,and in 1979 removed the term secular from their constitution. Article 12 elaborates further on secularism and freedom of religion.
Law and religion is the interdisciplinary study of relationships between law,especially public law,and religion. Over a dozen scholarly organizations and committees focussing on law and religion were in place by 1983,and a scholarly quarterly,the Journal of Law and Religion,was first published that year. The Ecclesiastical Law Journal began publication in 1987. The Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion was founded in 1999. The Oxford Journal of Law and Religion was founded in England in 2012.
Secularism in the Philippines concerns the relationship of the Philippine government with religion. Officially the Philippines is a secular state,but religious institutions and religion play a significant role in the country's political affairs. Legal pluralism also persist with the application of Islamic personal laws for the country's Muslim population.
Secularism in Kosovo has a complex history and is influenced by political and social developments in the country. Since the declaration of independence in 2008,Kosovo has followed a clear course towards the separation of religion from the state,promoting freedom of belief and human rights.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (8 August 2010). "Living Together with Disagreement: Pluralism, the Secular, and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada Today". SSRN1654405.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (January 2008). "Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada: The Need for a Paradigm Shift". SSRN1654422.
↑ Benson, Iain (2007). "The Freedom of Conscience and Religion in Canada: Challenges and Opportunities". Emory International Law Review. 21 (1): 111–165.
↑ Benson, Iain (2010). "Taking Pluralism and Liberalism Seriously: The Need to Re-understand Faith, Beliefs, Religion and Diversity in the Public Sphere". Journal for the Study of Religion. Special Issue "Public Faith and the Politics of Faith". 23, Numbers 1 & 2, 2010 (1 & 2): 17–41 at 36.
↑ "Culture". Incarnation.ca. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (8 August 2010). "Living Together with Disagreement: Pluralism, the Secular, and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada Today". SSRN1654405.
↑ Benson, Iain T (2000). "Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the 'Secular'". p.520. SSRN1654455.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (2004). "Considering Secularism" in "Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society". Montreal: McGill-Queen's. pp.83–98. ISBN0-7735-2812-1.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (2004). "Considering Secularism". SSRN1654427.
↑ Benson, Iain T. (December 2011). ""That False Struggle between Believers and Non-Believers"; "Le faux combat entre croyants et non-croyants"; "Quella falsa lotta tra credenti e non-credenti"". Oasis, Marcianum Press. English, French, Italian, English-Urdu and English-Arabic editions. Year 6 (12): 22–25.
↑ Benson, Iain (January 2008). "Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada: The Need for a Paradigm Shift". SSRN1654422.
↑ Benson, Iain T (2008). "The Case for Religious Inclusivism and the Judicial Recognition of Associational Rights: A Response to Lenta". SSRN1654410.
↑ Lakhani, Ali, ed. (July 2011). "A Selection of Poems: Iain T. Benson". Sacred Web. 27: 137–142.
↑ Benson, I.T., ed. (2004). The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN0-89870-997-0.
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