-Please write thoughtful answers to the two questions on the next page. Your answers for each question should be at least 2.5 pages long.
-The paper should be double spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, and have one inch margins on all sides.
-While the answers need not be formal essays they should be structured answers, with clearly defined paragraphs. It will be clarifying if you offer a summary of your answer at the beginning before proceeding to elaborate it in detail with supporting textual
evidence.
(1) Consider the Supreme Courts decision in MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP v. COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION as well as the supplementary materials about the case that you have received. Drawing on specific insights and critiques provided by the various theorists we have studied this quarter, provide a critical analysis of the circumstances of the case and the oral arguments. For example, you may want to address some of the following questions: What criticisms might be made of how the conflict at the heart of this case is framed by the parties and by the law and legal experts? What assumptions about religion and the religious are found in the arguments made by both the advocates and judges? Is
there any sense in which an appeal to the category of religion distracts from other important political dimensions of this case? What are alternative dispositions or ethical outlooks that the participants in this case might have taken?
(2) Do you agree with van Leeuwens claim that there is some merit in recognizing the possibility of a more minimalist inter-cultural citizenship, in which an element of indifference and a posture of ignoring are seen as acceptable modes of citizen cohabitation? What are the drawbacks and benefits in citizens approaching each other such they do not focus on their cultural, ethnic, and religious differences? Make sure to ground your analysis of van Leeuwens arguments in the text of his article, Dealing with Urban Diversity: Promises and Challenges of City Life for Intercultural Citizenship. A good answer will also draw upon the work of other theorists we have studied this quarter.
