Secularism as Fraternity

This project offers an interpretation of constitutional secularism in terms of an affective and dispositional ideal of fraternity between religious groups. Indian constitutional secularism, it will be argued, is best understood as a Gandhian ideal emphasising amity, empathy, compassionate solidarity, munificence and togetherness with respect to the religious other. This ideal has strong potential to help reshape constitutions, law and policy to enable communities to live well together despite religious difference.

Farrah Ahmed is a Professor at Melbourne Law School. Her research spans legal theory, constitutional law, administrative law and family law. Her work including on judicial review, citizenship, secularism, religious freedom and social rights, has been published in the Modern Law Review, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the Cambridge Law Journal and the International Journal of Constitutional Law. Her book Religious Freedom under the Personal Law System was published by Oxford University Press. Since 2019, Farrah has served on an Advisory Committee of the Australian Law Reform Commission and has served as the Attorney-General's nominee to select tribunal members. This project this lecture discusses was developed while Farrah was a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton University (2022-23).