Summary
Title: The Global Face of Public Faith: Politics, Human Rights, and Christian Ethics
Author: David Hollenbach, S.J.
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 0878401393
Pro:
• Strong arguments for the participation of religion in public life
Con:
• May not appeal to religious and political conservatives who deserve to read this
Description:
• Exploration of whether religion can play a role in politics and public debate
• Argues that religion cannot be wholly privatized and excluded from the public sphere
• Discusses how to keep religion from oppressing other viewpoints
Book Review
The problem is, both positions are arguably correct. There is no question but that religion can be employed as a force for great evil — the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001 are excellent evidence of this. People who fear the ends religion might be used for are justified in their concerns. On the other hand, public participation in religion can encourage public participation in the service of other goals as well. What, if anything, can defenders of public religion do to assuage the reasonable concerns of others?
This is the subject of David Hollenbach’s The Global Face of Public Faith: Politics, Human Rights, and Christian Ethics. Holder of The Margaret O’Brien Flatley Chair in Catholic Theology at Boston College, Hollenbach is concerned first with making a case for why religion should be allowed to have a strong voice in public issues and political affairs and, second, with explaining how such a voice can be raised in a way that doesn’t trample upon anyone’s rights or liberties. It’s a tough job, but Hollenbach makes a good go of it and the end result isn’t too bad. Key for that is the concept of dialogue.
Hollenbach isn’t trying to preach or to convince everyone to think just like him — on the contrary, that’s the sort of problem he doesn’t want religion to fall into. He does not, after all, believe he has stumbled upon any final answers. He envisions religions engaging in public dialogues about public and political issues — the essays in this book, most of which could stand alone, are his contributions to that dialogue. Hollenbach writes:
- “Religion is not simply a set of convictions that one should or should not invoke in political debate. It is a considerably more dynamic and multidimensional reality that the term “convictions” might suggest. Likewise, political debate is not simply argument about whether to adopt or reject certain policies. ... If we agree that the political sphere encompasses all human activities that occur in the public life of society, it is surely a mistake to limit it to the policy decisions reached in legislative, executive, or judicial fora. The res publica is much larger than the sphere of government. It includes all those communities and institutions that form the rich fabric of civil society. It also includes all those public forms of discourse, conversation, and argument that constitute a culture.”
Why is the concept of a dialogue important? Because for Hollenbach, it is a mistake to assume that the separation of church and state (which he supports) requires the complete “privatization” of religion in the sense that religious ideas are not permitted to play any role in the public discussion of social issues. They should be “private” the sense of “privately supported/funded,” but not in the sense of “hidden from the view of others.” The question for him is, then, not whether religious beliefs play a role in public discussions, but rather how and where.
