Religion, Democracy, and Philosophy

Defining the relations between religion and democracy was traditionally an issue for democracies; it generally focused on the question of the nature and limits of religious freedom—one of the basic freedoms constitutive of modern democratic states. Recently, however, interest in this issue has come largely from the side of religion—and it often challenges the value of democracy and raises questions concerning political obligation. I will comment on some of the conceptual issues involved in describing these relations and this shift.