by Edmund Byrne
This is a book, published by The Mellen Press, 2010
Religion should be reasonably accommodated in the public arena, especially in the United States. To this end I review... more
Religion should be reasonably accommodated in the public arena, especially in the United States. To this end I review and critique how this issue has been considered in both philosophical and legal circles. I find that neither the philosophical nor the legal case for suppressing religion-based statements in the public arena is persuasive or definitive. Philosophers, especially those liberally oriented, prefer that only secular discourse be permitted in the public arena. But they give too little attention to problems that arise when an exclusively secular-oriented government is in power. As the key interpreter of the legal status of religion in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court strives for neutrality as between free exercise and non-establishment of religion. This constitutional ideal has been concretized in seemingly inconsistent ways, especially in regard to K-12 education. Basing my assessment on group rights, I endorse neither extreme permissiveness nor unnecessarily rigid constraints regarding religious practices. Reasonable restraints should be in place to protect individuals from religious extremists. Statements based on religious beliefs, though, have a place in public discourse so long as they remain open to the same critical response as are those of any other worldview.
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