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Sikh Cremations and the Re-Imagining of the Clash of Cultures
- Human Rights Quarterly
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 35, Number 3, August 2013
- pp. 598-630
- 10.1353/hrq.2013.0034
- Article
- Additional Information
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When can one say that the law protects a religious tradition? The issue arose in the most extraordinary circumstances, with respect to funeral rites in the United Kingdom case of Ghai v. Newcastle City Council, involving an orthodox Hindu claimant and some Sikh intervener parties. The Court required the practice to be firmly established in religious doctrine—not just religious culture. This, however, is unsatisfactory. Religious practices are not necessarily specific; the requirement wrongly privileges formal religions, forcing them to become stricter, and ignores behavior that is "an aspect of a practice of religion." It is a charter for extremism.