This book is devoted to the studyof the interplaybetween religious rules and State law. It exploreshow State recognition of religious rules can affect the degree of legaldiversity that is available to citizens and why such recognition sometimeresults in more individual and collective freedom and sometime in a threat toequality of citizens before the law. The first part of the bookcontains a few contributions that place this discussion within the wider debateon legal pluralism. While Statelaw and religious rules are two normative systems among many others, thespecific characteristics of the latter are at the heart of tensions that emergewith increasing frequency in many countries. Thesecond part is devoted to the analysis of about twenty national cases thatprovide an overview of the different tools and strategies that are employed tomanage the relationship between State law and religious rules all over theworld.