Religion and Liberal Democracy‪.‬

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROPER place of religion in a democracy and the separation of church and state remain in the news. In the United States, legal and social battles about the proper place to draw the line between religion and government are being waged around the issues of abortion, gay marriage, faith-based social services, and other well-publicized flash points of conflict between sacred beliefs and secular authority. And with the political influence of religious conservatives evidenced in the 2004 presidential election, the issue of religious influence on affairs of state is likely to remain a matter of importance and controversy for the foreseeable future. Thus the secularism and church-state separation of liberal democratic theory are under renewed attack. So reexamining the principles underlying secular government becomes not simply a matter of leisurely philosophical speculation but one of extreme political and practical urgency. The principle of separation of church and state is essential for providing for and preserving both religious freedom and the long-term continuation of the peaceful stability of a well-ordered, liberal democracy--where human equality and human freedom are regarded as fundamental and intrinsic goods and where more human freedom is recognized as better than less. But leaders of what is commonly called the religious right have been attempting to tear down the Jeffersonian wall of separation between church and state (as did many religionists in Thomas Jefferson's own day). So it is necessary to clarify what is at stake in this struggle.