Review of Brian Leiter, Why Tolerate Religion? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-691- 15361-2 Hb, 334 pp Jakub Urbaniak Published online: 13 November 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Reasons for tolerating religion are not specific to religion but apply to all claims of conscience. Such is the central thesis that underlies Brian Leiter's book. The practical conclusion that he draws from that principle is that individuals with claims of religious conscience have no special right to request exemptions from generally applicable laws. In fact, unless their claims are not burden-shifting, they should be rather subject to the No Exemptions approach, alongside the individuals with the ‘merely’ secular claims of conscience. The book is arranged in five sections. Chapter 1 examines the nature of the moral ideal of principled toleration as opposed to merely pragmatic (‘Hobbesian') compromise, on the one hand, and indifference or neutrality on the other. Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted to the question, ‘What makes religious claims of conscience distinctive?’ Leiter comes up with the two key marks of religion, namely the categoricity of religious commands and religious belief's insulation from evidence, and argues that none of these features warrants singling out religion for toleration. In Chap. 4, the concept of respect for religion, conceived as the moral foundation of religious liberty, is considered as an alternative to the ideal of toleration. Finally, Chap. 5 argues that, regardless of the nature of the claims of conscience (religious or irreligious), there should be no exemptions to general laws with neutral purposes if shifting burdens or risks onto others is involved. This provocative book provides the reader with a comprehensive framework for probing the phenomenon of preferential treatment of religion in both law and public discourse. Those interested in political philosophy and constitutional theory will certainly find it stimulating. Once labelled ‘the most powerful man in academic philosophy’ (mainly due to his famous rankings), Leiter guides us steadfastly through the jungle of definitions, distinctions and controversies surrounding the concept of principled toleration. He masterfully depicts the discrepancies between legal practices characteristic of different states, with an emphasis on American ‘viewpoint discrimination ’ , British establishment of a religious Vision of the Good SOPHIA (2013) 52:719–721 DOI 10.1007/s11841-013-0392-y J. Urbaniak (*) University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: jakub-urbaniak@hotmail.com