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Introduction
Religion
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signifies a way of life that is central, comprehensive, and difficult to abandon.
The political questions raised by religious individuals, organizations, and minorities are among
the most pressing and potent issues in the contemporary world of politics. It is the task of political
philosophy as the normative study of politics to address these issues and to offer tenable
prescriptions for the place of religion in public life. Since the Reformation, in the wake of
inevitable religious divisions, differences, and conflicts, political philosophy has been confronted
with political manifestations of religion. Among the major trends of thought, there have been
ideas favoring forceful elimination of religious manifestations in public life, homogenization of
diverse claims through coercive imposition or rationalization of religion, and trivialization of
religion through secular institutionalization.
Liberalism has developed among these as a decisive alternative, a tradition descending
from the defense of toleration and peaceful coexistence. As a political philosophy liberalism is
distinguished by the importance it attaches to the civil and political rights of the individuals. The
liberal principle of legitimacy is based on the notion that individual citizens are capable of
judging what gives value to their own lives. Liberal thinkers have elected to consider religion as a
matter of individual choice and sought accommodation of diverse religious views through a stable
scheme of public order. Three main areas of focus have been considered when addressing the
religion question: (1) a normative account of the principles of political association under which
diverse and conflicting religious views can live together; (2) a prescriptive account of
‘acceptable’ religious views in terms of public order and stability; and (3) a definitive account of
the public and political processes as result of which religious views become ‘acceptable’ and
‘compatible’ in terms of public order and stability.
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In the text, I use the term religion as a generic concept referring churches, denominations, and sects, and religious
doctrine and religious view, as concepts denoting the moral practical aspect of religion.
Convention