The War of Religion
Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia By William Cavanaugh Russell Blackford's article is a well-intentioned effort at achieving a workable modus vivendi in a world where atheists, Catholics , Muslims and others must all learn to get along. His solution is a familiar one: let's take what divides us - religion, defined as beliefs about otherworldly matters - and privatize it. We can then all agree in public, at least in principle, on merely worldly matters. Blackford's argument is based on a familiar "Just So" story about European history: once upon a time Catholics and Protestants started killing each other over religion. The secular state saved the day by making religion a private matter. Locke is the hero here for conceptualizing this amicable division: the church would stay out of politics, and the state would stay out of religion. And they all lived happily ever after. Unfortunately, this tale does not become more true simply by being repeated. It is ...