The Sunday edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer features an op-ed arguing for the importance of religious freedom, not just in the United States, but abroad as well.
The authors, Christian Sahner and Bennett Graham observe that religious freedom plays a fundamental role in the development of a healthy civil society. They write:
Promoting religious liberty has long been sidelined by policymakers as a niche concern, but its importance cannot be understated. The possibility to believe and disbelieve empowers people to think critically for themselves, arriving at a conviction as a matter of choice, as opposed to coercion. A society that respects religious liberty also allows diverse claims of truth to compete beside one another, creating an atmosphere of civil debate, transparency, and respect.
In view of the central role of religion in culture, it makes sense to think that how a society treats religious conviction says a great deal about its view of human freedoms more broadly. On the one hand, it makes no sense to drive religious convictions out of the public square, for to do so impoverishes the political realm, and functions as a secular tyranny of its own sort. On the other hand, as Sahner and Bennett point out, religious freedom—the limitations on the power of government to make theological doctrine obligatory—helps prevent the passion of religious conviction from conscripting the power of government to coerce convictions, thus violating the dignity of the human person.
Both Christianity and Islam are animated by the conviction that their truths are universal. Both want to realize this universality in and through evangelization, which involves the transformation of culture. Both face the temptation to conscript the power of the modern state to achieve this goal. A commitment to religious freedom blocks this temptation. It redirects the ambitions of the evangelist toward their proper object: the heart and mind of the human person, and fittingly so, for it is the place where culture percolates.
September 27th, 2010 | 10:40 am
Your link did not take me to the article, but this did: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100926_Global_religious_freedom_is_crucial_to_all.html
September 27th, 2010 | 11:33 am
I’m astonished by your last paragraph. On what are you basing your claims? Christianity is animated by a belief that the universe is knowable through reason, and that God’s laws are constant. Islam is animated by a belief that Allah can do as he pleases and that a Muslim can only follow the teachings of the Koran. To reduce these two beliefs to “convictions that their truths are universal” is an oversimplification.
“Both face the temptation to conscript the power of the modern state,” again, is an ingenuous statement. Christians, through our fallen nature, are tempted by many sins but our faith teaches us to “render unto Caesar” and to resist temptation with all our beings. Islam, through sharia law, is encouraged to meld church and state. This is not temptation but doctrine. Your overarching statement assumes an equivalence between the two faiths on this topic when they are actually radically different.
You say, “A commitment to religious freedom blocks this temptation.” Again, this statement taken out of context is perfectly true, but how does it apply to your specific thesis? Where in Islam do you see a commitment to religious freedom? Perhaps you define religious freedom differently than I’m assuming. Muslim countries do not allow other faiths to co-exist in peace and harmony. The examples of murdered Christians and Hindus abound. Islam’s sacred texts demand that other faiths submit to the Islamic state.
If you would like to assert that, within the dictates of Islam, certain Muslims can live happily and faithfully in an open American democracy, then please do so in specifics. Your generalized statements do not stand up to scrutiny and do not lend justice to whatever point you wish to make.
September 27th, 2010 | 1:48 pm
I am shocked at such politically correct claptrap from someone associated with so excellent a publication as First Things. As the commenter above noted, Islam is demonstrably lacking anything approaching an appreciation of freedom of religion, let alone a committment to it. Some Christians in past centuries have violated this God-given liberty, but Islam has embraced theocracy as an unmistakeable tenet of it’s creed all along. Do your homework, or better still keep up with current events.
September 27th, 2010 | 7:08 pm
quick, name one place where Christians prevent Muslims from praying.
Now, name a place that executes or jails Christian converts.
Finally, name a country with 1 million Catholics that doesn’t even allow one single Catholic church.
October 4th, 2010 | 8:45 am
[...] …from R.R. Reno: Both Christianity and Islam are animated by the conviction that their truths are universal. Both want to realize this universality in and through evangelization, which involves the transformation of culture. Both face the temptation to conscript the power of the modern state to achieve this goal. A commitment to religious freedom blocks this temptation. It redirects the ambitions of the evangelist toward their proper object: the heart and mind of the human person, and fittingly so, for it is the place where culture percolates. [...]
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