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Habermas J - Religion in Public
Sphere
Key public sphere religion religion differences
Terms religious symbolism statistics tolerance
Where p. 373 - 398 Reader
?
Hitherto unexpected political importance since the epochmaking change
of 1989 - 90
National and ethnic conflicts
Decentralized form of terrorism that operates globally and is directed
against the perceived insults and injuries caused by a superior Western
civilization
Religious family law is either an alternative or a substitute for secular civil
law
Religious conflicts are squeezing their way into the international arena
Perception of itnernational relations has changed in light of the fears of a
'clash of civilizations'
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 1
, Offensive in their response to the image of Occidentialism that the others
have of the West
Long term impact of violent colonialization and failures in decolonialisation
Capitalist modernisation penetrating these societies from the outside then
triggers social uncertainty and cultural upheavals
Religious movements process the radical changes in social strucutre and
cultural dissynchronies
Political revitalization of religion at the heart of the United States, where
the dynamism of modernization unfolds most successfully
This evocation of religion as the power of tradition implicitly revealed the
nagging doubt that the vitality of that which is already relexively passed
down as tradition may have been broken
Statistical evidence of a wave of secularization in almost all European
countries since the end of World War II going hand in hand with social
modernization
Religious conflicts are squeezing their way also into the international arena
Cultural self-confidence of those world religions that to this very day
shape the physiognomy of the major civilizations
Perception of international relations has changed in light of the fears of a
“clash of civilizations”
More importantly: the religious Right is not
traditionalist
Precisely because it unleashes spontaneous energy for religious
revivalism, it causes such irritation among its secular opponents
Max Weber’s Occidental Rationalism appears to be the actual deviation
The shift in power indicates a mental shift in civil society that here in the
United States forms the background to the academic debates on the
political role of religion in the public sphere
John Rawl’s conception of the public use of reason has on what we might
call “the ethics of citizenship”
These demanding civic duties draw our attention to those epistemic
attitudes and mentalities that secular and religious citizens in a liberal
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 2
, community must tacitly attribute to another another
The assumption of a common human reason is the epistemic base for the
justification of a secular state which no longer depends on religious
legitimation
And this allows in turn for a separation of state and church at the
institutional level
The introduction of the freedom of religion is the appropriate political
answer to the challenges of religious pluralism
Fair arrangements can only be found if the parties involved learn to take
also the perspective of the other
In the secular state, government has to be placed on a nonreligious footing
anyway
Rawls speaks in this context of the ‘duty of civility’ and ‘the public use of
reason’
This constraint explains the controversial reservation, the so called
“proviso” for the use of non-public, that is religious reasons
The principle of separation of state and church obliges politicians and
officials within political institutions to formulate and justify laws, court
rulings, decrees and measures only in a language which is equally
accessible to all citizens
Put differently, true belief is not only a doctrine, believed content, but a
source of energy that the person who has a faith taps performatively and
thus nurtures his or her entire life
Liberal state, which expressly protects such forms of living cannot at the
same time expect of all citizens that they justify their political statements
also independent of their religious convictions or world views
We cannot derive from the secular character of the state an obligation for
all citizens to supplement their public religious contributions by
equivalents in a generally accessible language
In fact, the liberal state has an interest of its own in unleashing religious
voices in the political public sphere, for it cannot know whether secular
society would not otherwise cut itself off from key resources for the
creation of meaning and identity
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 3
, The citizens of a democratic community owe one another good reasons
for their public political interventions
Contrary to the restrictive view of Rawls and Audi, this civic duty can be
specified in such a tolerant way that contributions are permitted in a
religious as well as in a secular language
They are not subject to constraints on thze mode of expression in the
political public sphere, but they rely on joint ventures of translation to
receive the chance to be taken up in the agendas and negotiations within
political bodies. Otherwise they will not “count” in any further political
process
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 4
Habermas J - Religion in Public
Sphere
Key public sphere religion religion differences
Terms religious symbolism statistics tolerance
Where p. 373 - 398 Reader
?
Hitherto unexpected political importance since the epochmaking change
of 1989 - 90
National and ethnic conflicts
Decentralized form of terrorism that operates globally and is directed
against the perceived insults and injuries caused by a superior Western
civilization
Religious family law is either an alternative or a substitute for secular civil
law
Religious conflicts are squeezing their way into the international arena
Perception of itnernational relations has changed in light of the fears of a
'clash of civilizations'
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 1
, Offensive in their response to the image of Occidentialism that the others
have of the West
Long term impact of violent colonialization and failures in decolonialisation
Capitalist modernisation penetrating these societies from the outside then
triggers social uncertainty and cultural upheavals
Religious movements process the radical changes in social strucutre and
cultural dissynchronies
Political revitalization of religion at the heart of the United States, where
the dynamism of modernization unfolds most successfully
This evocation of religion as the power of tradition implicitly revealed the
nagging doubt that the vitality of that which is already relexively passed
down as tradition may have been broken
Statistical evidence of a wave of secularization in almost all European
countries since the end of World War II going hand in hand with social
modernization
Religious conflicts are squeezing their way also into the international arena
Cultural self-confidence of those world religions that to this very day
shape the physiognomy of the major civilizations
Perception of international relations has changed in light of the fears of a
“clash of civilizations”
More importantly: the religious Right is not
traditionalist
Precisely because it unleashes spontaneous energy for religious
revivalism, it causes such irritation among its secular opponents
Max Weber’s Occidental Rationalism appears to be the actual deviation
The shift in power indicates a mental shift in civil society that here in the
United States forms the background to the academic debates on the
political role of religion in the public sphere
John Rawl’s conception of the public use of reason has on what we might
call “the ethics of citizenship”
These demanding civic duties draw our attention to those epistemic
attitudes and mentalities that secular and religious citizens in a liberal
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 2
, community must tacitly attribute to another another
The assumption of a common human reason is the epistemic base for the
justification of a secular state which no longer depends on religious
legitimation
And this allows in turn for a separation of state and church at the
institutional level
The introduction of the freedom of religion is the appropriate political
answer to the challenges of religious pluralism
Fair arrangements can only be found if the parties involved learn to take
also the perspective of the other
In the secular state, government has to be placed on a nonreligious footing
anyway
Rawls speaks in this context of the ‘duty of civility’ and ‘the public use of
reason’
This constraint explains the controversial reservation, the so called
“proviso” for the use of non-public, that is religious reasons
The principle of separation of state and church obliges politicians and
officials within political institutions to formulate and justify laws, court
rulings, decrees and measures only in a language which is equally
accessible to all citizens
Put differently, true belief is not only a doctrine, believed content, but a
source of energy that the person who has a faith taps performatively and
thus nurtures his or her entire life
Liberal state, which expressly protects such forms of living cannot at the
same time expect of all citizens that they justify their political statements
also independent of their religious convictions or world views
We cannot derive from the secular character of the state an obligation for
all citizens to supplement their public religious contributions by
equivalents in a generally accessible language
In fact, the liberal state has an interest of its own in unleashing religious
voices in the political public sphere, for it cannot know whether secular
society would not otherwise cut itself off from key resources for the
creation of meaning and identity
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 3
, The citizens of a democratic community owe one another good reasons
for their public political interventions
Contrary to the restrictive view of Rawls and Audi, this civic duty can be
specified in such a tolerant way that contributions are permitted in a
religious as well as in a secular language
They are not subject to constraints on thze mode of expression in the
political public sphere, but they rely on joint ventures of translation to
receive the chance to be taken up in the agendas and negotiations within
political bodies. Otherwise they will not “count” in any further political
process
Habermas J - Religion in Public Sphere 4
