Religious argumentation in public debate – an introduction to the topic from the perspective of John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to determine whether setting forth religious arguments in public debate on law is allowed in a liberal state. This issue has become particularly important after the Polish Constitutional Tribunal issued a ruling on the constitutionality of one of the conditions of the permissibility of abortion. In addition to the question of the presence of religious arguments in the debate on the law, a doubt has arisen as to what religious arguments actually are and whether they can include arguments that are substantively consistent with the position of a particular church or other religious organization. The paper discusses John Rawl’s views on the presence of religious argumentation in the public sphere, taking the concept of “public reason” into account. It also presents the position of Jürgen Habermas, who emphasizes the obligation of state officials to translate religious arguments into the language of political values when formulating laws.
Keywords:
law and religion, religious argumentation, public reason, liberalismReferences
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University of Lodz
Mgr, Uniwersytet Łódzki, Szkoła Doktorska Nauk Społecznych, ul. Matejki 22/26, 90-237 Łódź
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4836-6469License
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