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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Limits Of Group Rights: Religious Institutions And Religious Minorities In International Law, Bernadette A. Meyler
The Limits Of Group Rights: Religious Institutions And Religious Minorities In International Law, Bernadette A. Meyler
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
Scholars and advocates of religious liberty within the United States are beginning to suggest that our constitutional discourse has focused too intently on individual rights and that our attention should now turn to the interests of religious institutions and the notion of church autonomy. The reoriented jurisprudence encouraged by such proposals is not without parallel in other national contexts, including those of Europe. Heeding calls to attend to church autonomy could thus bring the United States into closer harmony with its European counterparts. Placing priority on church autonomy might, however, generate unforeseen obstacles to the exercise of religious liberty. In …
Invisible Foundations: Science, Democracy, And Faith Among The Pragmatists, Patrick J. Deneen
Invisible Foundations: Science, Democracy, And Faith Among The Pragmatists, Patrick J. Deneen
Pragmatism, Law and Governmentality
Today science is almost universally regarded as an ally of democracy. Religion - once viewed by Tocqueville as the great support of democratic mores, in contrast to the materialism of then-contemporary atheists who threatened to undermine democratic commitments - is now viewed by many as antithetical to the openness and provisionality that marks both science and democracy. As framed by the neo-pragmatist Richard Rorty, religion is a "conversation-stopper," the very definition of anti-democratic, anti-scientific anti-pragmatism.
Whereas a pragmatic form of faith, notably "democratic faith," secures belief in an ever improving future, the "politics of skepticism" is reinforced by the initial …