<jats:p>Based on a description of the situation of religion in modern society as well as an analysis of the judicial decision pertaining to crucial cases, Karl-Heinz Ladeur and Ino Augsberg show how the problem of the complex and tense relationship between the state, society and religion cannot be solved completely, but that it can however be given a different character in the sense of a new and dynamic modus vivendi.</jats:p>