Samenvatting

In this article, I argue that the distinction ‘liberalism versus communitarianism’ offers insufficient conceptual clarity. I do so by comparing the US Supreme Court’s ruling concerning the ministerial exception with the ruling of the Conseil d’État (highest court in France) concerning the wearing of a burkini. I argue that, although both cases seem to be in accordance with a liberal approach to the relation between religion and state, neither of them fully are. Instead, both cases contain main communitarian characteristics. Still, the outcome of both rulings could hardly be more different: a religious exception in case of the ministerial exception and a rejection of such an exception in case of the burkini­ban. A further subdivision in these philosophical models is therefore required.