Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Living Through The Tension: Religion And Public Policy In The Thought Of Gilbert Meilaender, Mark W. Foreman

Faculty Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine and evaluate the position of Gilbert Meilaender on the appropriateness of appealing to religious reasons as support for one's position on issues of public policy. The dissertation establishes that, while Meilaender often discusses public policy issues directly or indirectly from a distinctively Christian perspective, he argues that such discussions are unavoidable, appropriate and consistent with toleration for other views in a pluralistic democracy. While this may create a certain amount of tension within pluralistic democracy, it poses no serious threat to social stability and can be both civically virtuous and respectful of …