Theoria: Beograd 56 (1):59-78. (2013)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
The paper discusses three aspects of belonging to religious systems of belief within a modern liberal society, namely (1) the sincerity and consistency of belief, (2) the possibility of exteriorization of belief through broader social interactions or transactions, and (3) the relationship between religious belief and the modern concept of affirmative tolerance, or affirmation of differences, which has become a pronounced public policy in multicultural liberal societies. The author argues that, while negative tolerance allows sincere religious belief to flourish in the private sphere and for benevolence to be shown to those who are seen as mistaken in their beliefs, affirmative tolerance opens an array of logical issues. The demand to extend potential substantive validation to opposed beliefs produces the ricochet effect of de-validating one’s own beliefs. This creates difficulties for religious communities when issues at stake are beliefs that, in the respective belief-systems, are definitive of the moral goodness and moral badness. Upon a more careful examination of the logical relations between the soteriological promises characteristic of what is sometimes called the
‘substantive’ layer of religiousness, on the one hand, and the public expectation of a tolerant coexistence of religious communities on a social level, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the tolerance required can only be a negative tolerance. Any expectation of affirmative tolerance de-values the soteriological script of the respective system of religious belief, and is thus likely to lead to serious disturbances in a liberal context of multi-cultural coexistence.
The author argues that the recent political announcements of a ‘failure of the multicultural experiment’ are caused by the aggressive pursuit of ‘affirmative tolerance’ rather than by any in-built intolerance of others in any of the large religious belief systems now prevalent in the liberal democratic world.
|
Keywords | religion substantive faith functional religiosity soteriology dogma negative tolerance affirmative tolerance liberal society multiculturalism |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism.William L. Rowe - 1979 - American Philosophical Quarterly 16 (4):335 - 341.
A Letter Concerning Toleration.John Locke & James H. Tully (eds.) - 1963 - Hackett Publishing Company.
19 The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism.William Rowe - 1979 - In Eleonore Stump & Michael J. Murray (eds.), Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions. Blackwell. pp. 6--157.
A Passion for Justice: Emotions and the Origins of the Social Contract.Robert Solomon - 1995 - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
View all 8 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
No citations found.
Similar books and articles
A Rethinking of Contemporary Religious Tolerance.James J. Delaney & Jeffrey Dueck - 2003 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 77:73-82.
Beliefs, Persons and Practices: Beyond Tolerance.Wibren van der Burg - 1998 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1 (2):227-254.
Beliefs, Persons and Practices: Beyond Tolerance.Wibren van der Burg - 1998 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 1 (2):227 - 254.
Nigerian Studies in Religious Tolerance.C. S. Momoh (ed.) - 1988 - National Association for Religious Tolerance.
The Limits of Tolerance in Education.Zdenko Kodelja - 2006 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 4:85-92.
A Strategy of Clinical Tolerance for the Prevention of Hiv and Aids in China.Yanguang Wang - 2000 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 25 (1):48 – 61.
Promoting Classical Tolerance in Public Education: What Should We Do with the Objection Condition?Ole Henrik Borchgrevink Hansen - 2013 - Ethics and Education 8 (1):65 - 76.
Pluralism, Tolerance and Moral Education.R. J. Royce - 1982 - Journal of Moral Education 11 (3):173-180.
Religious Tolerance Through Religious Diversity and Epistemic Humility.James Kraft - 2006 - Sophia 45 (2):101-116.
The Inclusion of the Other? Habermas and the Paradox of Tolerance.Lasse Thomassen - 2006 - Political Theory 34 (4):439 - 462.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2013-11-03
Total views
292 ( #35,726 of 2,498,775 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
41 ( #20,963 of 2,498,775 )
2013-11-03
Total views
292 ( #35,726 of 2,498,775 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
41 ( #20,963 of 2,498,775 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads