Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2011
Publication Citation
32 Cardozo Law Review 1755 (2011)
Abstract
In this Essay, I recount John Locke’s 1689 Letter Concerning Toleration and explain how religious liberty continues to rest on Lockean and related justifications. These various justifications depend in part on religious-moral reasoning (both Christian and non-Christian) and in part on political-pragmatic considerations. I then discuss recent and ongoing developments in the American religious landscape, including a radical increase in religious diversity, the modernization of traditional faiths, the individualization or "spiritualization" of religion, and the increasing secularization of individual belief structures. I suggest that these developments, over time, may seriously threaten the underlying religious-moral and political-pragmatic foundations of religious liberty and therefore America’s commitment to religious liberty as a fundamental value. If I am correct, the long-term future of American religious liberty may be in peril.
Recommended Citation
Conkle, Daniel O., "Religious Truth, Pluralism, and Secularization: The Shaking Foundations of American Religious Liberty" (2011). Articles by Maurer Faculty. 236.
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/236