Citizenship, Religion, and Political Liberalism
Citizenship, Religion, and Political Liberalism
This chapter examines the thought of the late John Rawls about the nature of the relationship between citizenship and religious belief and identity in liberal societies. In particular, it takes issue with Rawls's rejection of a teleological or perfectionist theory of citizenship, casting doubt on the success of political liberalism in rescuing the normative basis of citizenship from comprehensive theories that invoke some definite conception of the human good. Instead, the chapter suggests that a more promising approach is to be found in the ‘natural law’ thinking of Alan Gewirth and John Finnis, which argues for general human goods that are the common preconditions of any comprehensive doctrine.
Keywords: autonomy, citizenship, good, natural law, political liberalism, public reason, Rawls, pluralism, Alan Gewirth, John Finnis
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