Does Religion Hinder Public Dialogue?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2019.106Abstract
The paper contains a critical exploration of Richard Rorty’s atheistic pragmatism, particularly his understanding of religion as a factor that hinders cultural and political dialogue. In Rorty’s opinion, references to “deep religious convictions” in public discussions are often used as the final argument that puts an end to dialogue. Therefore, religion acts as a “conversation stop-per”. The article puts forward a number of arguments against this pragmatic attitude. It is argued, that the “privatization” of religion, advocated by Rorty, is as practically impossible as the privatization of language or morality. Religious faith (tradition, cult) is always a “common” and not “private” cause. The laicist public/private dichotomy is at odds with the principles of liberal democracy: in order to participate in social and political life, believers are forced to break their identity into religious and civil (the former prevails in private life, while the latter in public life); i. e., they find themselves in less favorable conditions than carriers of secular worldviews. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that religion in a post-secular world, contrary to Rorty and those who share his views, is becoming an integral part of politics, returning to the public space from the private ghetto, into which theorists and practitioners of Western secularism tried to drive it. Religious moods are gaining momentum, and church and clerical leaders increasingly often become political actors, affecting public opinion and governmental decisions. Therefore, we should rather speak about the revival of religion, but not its decline, about the “publicization”, but not privatization of faith.
Keywords:
religion, politics, secularism, public, private, communication, dialogue
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Asad T. (2003) Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford, Stanford University Press.
Bacon M. (2007) Richard Rorty: Pragmatism and Political Liberalism. Lanham, Lexington Books.
Bailey E. (1997) Implicit Religion in Contemporary Society. Kampen, Kok Pharos.
Bender C. (2003) Heaven’s Kitchen: Living Religion at God’s Love We Deliver. Chicago; London, University of Chicago Press.
Berger P. (1999) “The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overviewˮ, in P. L. Berger (ed.) The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans, pp. 1–18.
Bruce S. (2002) God is Dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford, Blackwell.
Bruce S. (2011) Secularization: In Defense of an Unfashionable Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Caputo J. (2001) On Religion. London; New York, Routledge.
Carter S. (1993) The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion. New York, Basic Books.
Carter S. (1998) The Dissent of the Governed: A Meditation on Law, Religion, and Loyalty. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Casanova J. (1994) Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Casanova J. (2008) “Public Religions Revisitedˮ, in H. de Vries (ed.) Religion. Beyond a Concept. New York, Fordham University Press, pp. 101–119.
Cavanaugh W. T. (1999) “The City: Beyond Secular Parodiesˮ, in J. Milbank, C. Pickstock, G. Ward (eds) Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology. London; New York, Routledge, pp. 182–200.
Cavanaugh W. T. (2009) The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Copson A. (2017) Secularism: Politics, Religion, and Freedom. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Dewey J. (1920) Reconstruction in Philosophy. New York, H. Holt and Company.
Duncan C. (2004) “A Question for Richard Rortyˮ, in The Review of Politics, vol. 66, no. (3), pp. 385–413.
Dzheims U. (2017) Mnogoobrazie religioznogo opyta. Issledovanie chelovecheskoi prirody [The varieties of religious experiences. A study in human nature], transl. from English V. Malahieva-Mirovich, M. Shik. Moscow, Akademicheskii proekt Publ. (In Russian)
Dzheims U. (1997) Volia k vere [Will to believe], transl. from English S. Cereteli. Moscow, Respublika Publ. (In Russian)
Esbeck C. H. (1985) “‘The Naked Public Square: Religion And Democracy in America’ by Richard Neuhaus”, in Missouri Law Review, no. 50, p. 215.
Goodman L. E. (2014) Religious Pluralism and Values in the Public Sphere. New York, Cambridge University Press.
Greenawalt K. (1988) Religious Convictions and Political Choice. New York, Oxford University Press.
Grigoriev S. (2011) “Rorty, Religion, and Humanismˮ, in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 187–201.
Habermas J. (2011) Mezhdu naturalizmom i religiej [Between naturalism and religion], Moscow, Vesʼ mir Publ. (In Russian)
Habermas J. (2008) “Notes on Post-Secular Societyˮ, in New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 17–29.
Habermas J., Ratzinger J. (2006) Dialektika sekuliarizatsii. O razume i religii [The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion], transl. from German V. Vitkovskiy. Moscow, Bibleisko-bogoslovskii institut sv. apostola Andreia. (In Russian)
Hauerwas S. (1983) “On Keeping Theological Ethics Theologicalˮ, in S. Hauerwas, A. MacIntyre (eds) Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy. Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 16–42.
Herbert D. (2011) “A Sociological Perspective on the Public Significance of Religion: From Secularization to ‘Publicization’ˮ, in L. J. Francis, H.-G. Ziebertz (eds) The Public Significance of Religion. Leiden; Boston, Brill, pp. 65–93.
Hervieu-Léger D. (2006) “In Search of Certainties: The Paradoxes of Religiosity in Societies of High Modernityˮ, in Hedgehog Review, vol. 8, no. 1–2, pp. 59–68.
Huntington S. (2004) Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity. New York, Simon and Schuster.
Keller T. (2008) The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Scepticism. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Kidd T. (2010) God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. New York, Basic Books.
Korsgaard C. M. (1996) Sources of Normativity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Kuipers R. (2002) Critical Faith: Toward a Renewed Understanding of Religious Life and its Public Accountability. Amsterdam, Rodopi.
Kyrlezhev A. (2004) “Postsekuliarnaia epokha: zametki o religiozno-kulʼturnoi situacii” [Post-secular era: notes on the religious and cultural situation], in Kontinent, no. 2(120), pp. 252–264. (In Russian)
Kyrlezhev A. (2011) “Postsekuliarnoe: kratkaia interpretatsiia” [Postsecular: a brief interpretation], in Logos, no. 3(82), pp. 100–106. (In Russian)
MacIntyre A. (1978) Against the Self-Images of the Age: Essays on Ideology and Philosophy. Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press.
Martinez H. (2013) “Po tu storonu sekuljarnogo razuma” [On the other side of the secular mind], in Pravoslavnoe bogoslovie i Zapad v XX veke. Istoriia vstrechi [Orthodox Theology and the West in the twentieth century. History of the meeting]. Moscow, Hristianskaia Rossiia, pp. 11–43. (In Russian)
McGehee J. P., Thomas, D. J. (2009) The Invisible Church: Finding Spirituality Where You Are. Westport, Praeger.
Neuhaus R. J. (1984) The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans.
Norris P., Inglehart R. (2004) Sacred and Secular, Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Novak M. (2002) On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding. San Francisco, Encounter.
Perry M. (1988) Morality, Politics, and Law. New York, Oxford University Press.
Perry M. (2003) Under God? Religious Faith and Liberal Democracy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Pihlström S. (2013) “Neopragmatismˮ, in A. Runehov, L. Oviedo (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. New York, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 1455–1465.
Proudfoot W. L. (2002) “Religious Belief and Naturalismˮ, in N. Frankenberry (ed.) Radical Interpretation in Religion. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 78–92.
Rauschenbusch W. (2010) The Social Principles of Jesus. New York, Wordstream Publishing.
Reece G. (2001) “Religious Faith and Intellectual Responsibility: Richard Rorty and the Public/Private Distinctionˮ, in American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 206–220.
Rorty R. (2007) “Buds That Never Openedˮ, in P. Rauschenbusch (ed.) Christianity and the Social Crisis of the 21st Century: The Classic That Woke Up the Church. New York, Harper One, pp. 347–350.
Rorty R. (1982) Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.
Rorty R. (1991) Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Rorty R. (2003) “Religion in the Public Square: A Reconsiderationˮ, in Journal of Religious Ethics, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 141–149.
Rorty R. (2006) “Toward a Postmetaphysical Cultureˮ, in E. Mendieta (ed.) Take Care of Freedom and Truth Will Take Care of Itself. Interviews with Richard Rorty. Stanford, Stanford University Press, pp. 46–55.
Rosen G. (2007) “Narrowing the Religion Gap?ˮ, in New York Times Sunday Magazine. February 18, p. 11.
Sass von H. (2011) “Religion in a Private Igloo? A Critical Dialogue with Richard Rortyˮ, in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 203–216.
Stout J. (2004) Democracy and Tradition. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
Stout J. (2010) “Rorty on Religion and Politicsˮ, in R. E. Auxier, L. E. Hahn (eds) The Philosophy of Richard Rorty. Chicago, Open Court, pp. 523–545.
Strauss L. (1941) “Persecution and the Art of Writingˮ, in Social Research, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 488–504.
Talisse R. (2015) “Religion and Liberalism: Was Rawls Right After All?ˮ, in T. Bailey, V. Gentile (eds) Rawls and Religion. New York, Columbia University Press, pp. 52–74.
Taylor C. (2007) A Secular Age. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Taylor C. (2002) Varieties of Religion Today: William James Revisited. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Taylor C. (2011) “Why We Need a Radical Redefinition of Secularismˮ, in E. Mendieta, J. Van Antwerpen (eds) The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. New York, Columbia University Press, pp. 34–59.
Turner B. S. (2010) “Religion in a Post-secular Societyˮ, in B. S. Turner (ed.) New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 649–667.
Uzlaner D. (2013) “Kartografiia postsekuliarnogo” [Mapping of Postsecular], in Otechestvennye zapiski, no. 1 (52), pp. 175–192. (In Russian)
Vitgenshtein L. (1994) Filosofskie raboty [Philosophical Works], part 1, transl. from German. M. Kozlova, Ju. Aseev. Moscow, Gnozis Publ.
Witte J. (2000) Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment. Boulder, Westview Press.
Wolterstorff N. (1997) “The Role of Religion in Decision and Discussion of Political Issuesˮ, in R. Audi, N. Wolterstorff. Religion in the Public Square. Lanham, Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 67–120.
Wolterstorff N. (2003) “An Engagement with Rortyˮ, in Journal of Religious Ethics, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 129–139.
Downloads
Published
2019-04-25
Issue
Section
Research
License
Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
