The Agnostic Age: Law, Religion, and the Constitution
Paul Horwitz
Abstract
This book provides a way to understand church–state conflict and the relationship between religion and liberal democracy in a contemporary era. It is argued that the fundamental reason for the church–state conflict is our aversion to questions of religious truth. By trying to avoid the question of religious truth, law and religion have ultimately reached a state of incoherence. It asserts that the answer to this dilemma is to take “the agnostic turn”—that is, to take an empathetic and imaginative approach to questions of religious truth, one that actually confronts rather than avoids these que ... More
This book provides a way to understand church–state conflict and the relationship between religion and liberal democracy in a contemporary era. It is argued that the fundamental reason for the church–state conflict is our aversion to questions of religious truth. By trying to avoid the question of religious truth, law and religion have ultimately reached a state of incoherence. It asserts that the answer to this dilemma is to take “the agnostic turn”—that is, to take an empathetic and imaginative approach to questions of religious truth, one that actually confronts rather than avoids these questions, but without reaching a final judgment about what that truth is.
Keywords:
church–state conflict,
religion,
liberal democracy,
religious beliefs,
religious truth,
the agnostic turn
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199737727 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737727.001.0001 |
