Ronald Dworkin gave the Truax lecture in philosophy on October 10. Dworkin is the Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at NYU and Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College, London. His books include Life's Dominion, Freedom's Law, and Sovereign Virtue. His forthcoming book is Justice in Robes (October 2005).
Dworkin's lecture was titled "The new religious wars" and discussed religion in American politics. "America is a very religious nation," began Dworkin. During the presidential election of 1960 "there settled over our country a taboo against religion in politics," he said. This taboo has been breached in recent years. President Bush referred often to God and religion in his campaign, citing his faith as a reason for trusting him, and the Catholic Church was very active in his campaign.
"I believe abortion first made the difference," said Dworkin of what gave religion a way back into American politics. After abortion debates, stem cell research, gay marriage, and teaching evolution in schools have come to the forefront in political issues, and a lot of the opposition to these issues comes from religious beliefs.
Dworkin's main question was what is the role of religion in American politics? He said there are two models America can follow: religious tolerant and secular tolerant. A religious tolerant community is committed to the principle of religion but respects people who choose not to practice a religion. A secular tolerant community considers itself neutral about religion but tolerant of people's freedom to practice any religion they choose.
Dworkin used the example of prayer in public schools to further explain these two models. In a religious tolerant community, people "see no reason why there should not be prayer in public schools," he said. However, they must respect the wishes of children of atheist parents to not pray, and the only barrier is the intimidation of these children who sit in silence while the rest of the class participates in prayer. A secular religious community believes that religion is not the business of any institution funded by federal funds and therefore there should not be prayer in public schools.
A religious tolerant community treats religion as something special, and sees no reason to extend the freedom of religion to other freedoms, for example gay marriage; in fact, in encourages prohibitions on other freedoms based on religious concerns. The secular tolerant community does not treat religion as something special; it treats the freedom of religion as a general freedom, as a general right to other freedoms.
To decided which model is appropriate in a democracy where the majority of the population is religious, "We should try to identify the principles that unite Americans," said Dworkin. The most important of these principles, according to Dworkin, is personal responsibility; or, the principle that each person has a personal responsibility to make the final decisions about what kind of life they will lead. Of course, the decisions people make are influenced by culture, which is a combination of a vector of all individual decisions and the collective political decisions of elected officials.
Dworkin believes our religious culture should be formed by the organic vector of individual decisions, and not by a collective act of government. "The [second] way is a violation of the principle of personal responsibility," said Dworkin, and personal responsibility is one of the rights that unites all citizens. "This argument is in favor of a secular-tolerant community," he said.
Dworkin closed with an argument about gay marriage, saying "Marriage, like every aspect [of community], must be formed organically." He said there is not substitute for marriage and no justification to not allow the freedom to marry to some people and not others. For example, Dworkin said, religion in this country is changing; Buddhism is becoming much more popular. But the state can not step in and say "Buddhism doesn't count as a religion."
The Truax Lecture Series was established in the mid-1950's by R. Hawley Truax, class of 1909, in memory of his father, Chauncey S. Truax, who was a member of the class of 1875 and also served on the Hamilton College Board of Trustees from 1899 to 1906. The Truax Lecture Series recognizes distinguished guest philosophers or lecturers in the field of philosophy.
-- by Laura Trubiano '07
