RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Author(s): Thomas G. Walsh

Source: International Journal on World Peace , JUNE 2012, Vol. 29, No. 2 (JUNE 2012),
pp. 35-61
Published by: Paragon House

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23266664

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23266664?seq=1&cid=pdf-
reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Journal on
World Peace

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST
SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Thomas G. Walsh President, Universal Peace Federation

200 White Plains Road, F11
Tarrytown, NY 10591
USA

Thomas Walsh is President of the Universal Peace Federation. He earned his Ph.D. in religio
at Vanderbilt University. He has been a teacher, author and editor, specializing in areas o
interfaith, religious studies, peace studies, philosophy, and social theory. He is Publish
of UPF Today magazine and Dialogue and Alliance, a scholarly interfaith journal. He h
contributed to and edited more than twenty books related to interfaith, peacebuildin
and renewal of the United Nations. He serves on the International Council of the World
Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and on the board of directors of the
International Coalition for Religious Freedom.

Religion is often cited as a source If we consider the quest for peace

of conflict and violence, but it
throughout history, we should not
also serves the cause of peace in
significant ways, including its calls ignore the role of religion. While reli
for non-violence, unselfishness, gion is often cited, quite accurately,
forgiveness, reconciliation, and
as a frequent contributor to conflict
just war theory. The European
Enlightenment caused many to and violence, it has also, and more
discount religion's role in public substantially served to advance the
affairs, but this is changing for cause of peace in many profound and
multiple reasons, including the
substantial ways, including its calls for
fact that attempts to build a good
society without religion have been practices such as non-violence, restraint
unsuccessful.
of acquisitiveness, forgiveness, rec
This article draws attention
onciliation, and just-war theory. The
to the more recent "post-secular"
thought of Jurgen Habermas, a human aspiration for peace has roots in
leading intellectual dedicated to religious ideals that are widely shared
"the Enlightenment project." He among the world's religions, and which
represents a significant post-secular
development in social theory long pre-dated modern secular move
with his awakening to religion's ments or ideologies.
significance in his ideal of the public There are two good reasons to
sphere. The United Nations, too,
recognize religion's role in matters
is reassessing the role of religion.
Approaches to peace that remain of peace and security. First of all, it is
religiously illiterate will fail to simply more truthful and scientific to
yield either accurate assessments or
fruitful outcomes.
acknowledge the power of religion in

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

world affairs. Secondly, by recognizing and understanding religion's role,

one is better positioned to mitigate religion's negative impact and, at the
same time, encourage its positive potential.
If we attribute the discounting of religion's role in public affairs to
the European Enlightenment, and that intellectual and social movement's
legacy, as expressed in Marxism, Darwinism, scientific reductionism,
positivism, methodological atheism and secularization theory, it may be
said that the widespread denial of religion's significance is a fairly recent
phenomenon, dating back only a few hundred years.
Moreover, recent trends, since the end of the Cold War Era, have been
precisely moving in a direction that acknowledges religion's ongoing role
in human affairs. This new emphasis has multiple causes; two are obvious.
First of all, perspectives which attempted
to build the good society without reli
By recognizing and gion have been unsuccessful, or at least
understanding religion's equally as unsuccessful as attempts by
role, one is better religious believers. Secondly, there is the
positioned to mitigate obvious empirical fact that religion con
religion's negative impact tinues to be a major force in the lives of
and, at the same time, individuals and, taken in the aggregate,
in world affairs. Statistics show that there
encourage its positive
are approximately 2.2 billion Christians,
potential.
1.6 billion Muslims, 1 billion Hindus
and 400 million Buddhists in the world.
One would have to live in a state of serious denial to fail to observe this
reality. Moreover these believers are active in the world as citizens, govern
ment leaders, scientists, educators, intellectuals, artists, and more. They
impact the social, political, and economic world.
Stated a bit differently, predictions of the withering away of religion
as a necessary consequence of the rise of science and rationality have not
proven to be prophetic. In fact, post-Cold War classics such as Samuel
Huntington's The Clash of Civilization^ are illustrative of the formidable
presence of religion in the fabric of ordinary life. For billions of people,
religion continues to shape social, cultural, ethnic and national identities;
as well as moral values and, in turn, human practices in the world. Consider
also Francis Fukuyama's recent study of the Origins of Political Order.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

36 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Fukuyama underscores the religious origins of the rule of law in the West.2
Efforts to build a world of peace without an understanding of religion's
power and relevance are impoverished, and there is a growing awareness of
this reality. Increasingly, those who are committed to peace are coming to
recognize the limitations of a perspective that fails to include an apprecia
tion of the religious factor.
To illustrate this point, I want to draw attention to the more recent
"post-secular" thought of Jurgen Habermas. As a leading intellectual who
has dedicated his life to fulfilling the aspirations of "the Enlightenment
project," he stands as an important indicator of a significant post-secular
development in the history of ideas and social theory. In his words, the
"conceptual triad" that dominates his own intellectual project over the
past 60 years centers on "public space,
discourse and reason."3 That is, he has
focused on the ideal of a society shapedHabermas acknowledges
by reason, a quest that has been at thethe ongoing relevance
forefront of thought from Plato to Kant.of religion.... Rationality
To some extent this ideal has manifested alone has been unable
itself in the rise of modernity, wherein, to furnish modernity
according to Habermas, reasoned diswith the substantive
course among communication partners moral passion required
forms a public space where truth claims, to sustain moral
normative claims and various problem commitments.
solving proposals can be discussed and
debated, leading toward a consensus
formed by the "unforced force of the better argument."4
While admittedly more concerned with the enlightenment of reason
than the enlightenment of faith, in his efforts to preserve and protect the
public sphere as the locus of democratic will-formation, Habermas has more
recently taken a keen interest in religion. I believe this reflects a growing
recognition on his part, as well as among many secular intellectuals, that
religion continues to function quite powerfully in the 21st century as a
significant social, moral and ideological force.
Habermas is not a "believer" in any traditional sense. Like Max Weber,
he considers himself "religiously unmusical." And yet he acknowledges the
ongoing relevance of religion, in the midst of modernity, in shaping the

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 37

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

solidarity of moral communities and engendering human commitments to

the good life. Rationality alone has been unable to furnish modernity with
the substantive moral passion required to sustain moral commitments. As
such, religion has yet to be superseded, and no suitable replacement has
been found. As such, efforts to build the good society and a world of lasting
peace must take religion seriously. Perspectives on or approaches to peace
which remain religiously illiterate or in denial of religion's relevance will
fail to yield either accurate assessments or fruitful outcomes.
When we consider issues of peace and security, analysis of the religious
factor should not be ignored. Who could deny the relevance of religion in
understanding conflicts in places such as Israel and Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir,
Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Kosovo, Mindanao, southern Thailand, Somalia, Sudan,
or Tibet? Who can deny the relevance
Who could deny the of religion in the analysis of the motives
and the logic that underlies the passion,
relevance of religion in
conflicts in Israel and commitment and ideology of terror
ists. Moreover, who could deny the
Palestine, Iraq, Kashmir,
relevance of religion in understanding
Sri Lanka, Nigeria, attitudes, whether we like them or not,
Kosovo, Mindanao,
toward violence, toward women, toward
southern Thailand, citizenship, toward education, toward
Somalia, Sudan, or Tibet? ethnocentrism, or toward human rights.
As such, it's quite difficult to conclude
that religion has little ongoing relevance within the public sphere of life.
Consider the way in which citizens of almost any democratic country
discuss matters such as abortion, stem-cell research, gay marriage, taxa
tion, distribution of goods and services, public education, sex education,
etc. It is very difficult to imagine any of these debates taking place without
religious factors being at play. Religion simply cannot be excluded from
democratic decision-making processes, neither at the national level, nor at
the international level. For example, even the world's pre-eminent global
institution dedicated to peace, the United Nations, must, and in fact is,
reassessing the relevance and significance of religion. In my conclusion, I
will comment on the relevance of Habermas' ideal of the public sphere,
and his own re-awakening to religion's social significance, to the work of
the United Nations.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

38 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

RELIGION AND PEACE

Any student of religion knows that the concept of peace is not

political concept, nor merely a secular moral concept. Islam, for ex
not only a religion that affirms submission to the will of Allah; in
if not always in practice, it is a religion dedicated to peace. Chr
emphasis on love of God and love of neighbor is understood b
ers as the essential prerequisite for building the Kingdom of G
is a world of peace and justice. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount i
the well-known phrase (Matthew 5.9), "Blessed are the peacema
they shall be called Sons of God." Jainism and Hinduism, are l
for their emphasis on non-violence, ahimsa. Hinduism's "peac
from the Isha Upanishad reads, "All this is full. All that is full. Fr
ness, fullness comes. When fullness is taken from fullness, Ful
remains. Om. Peace, peace, peace."5 In the Talmud, we read, "O
have taught, We support the poor of the heathen along with th
Israel, visit the sick of the heathen along with the sick of Israel, a
the poor of the heathen along with the dead of Israel, in the in
peace."6 And Buddhism enjoins us all to a life that turns away
desires that would lead to violence and conflict. In the Angutta
of Buddhism, we read, "This is Peace, this is the excellent, namely
of all the impulses, the casting out of all 'basis,' the extinction of
dispassion, stopping, Nirvana."7 In Sikhism's Adi Granth, we r
is the gracious Lord's ordinance promulgated, No one shall caus
pain or injury; All mankind shall live in peace together, Under
administrative benevolence.8
At the same time and with all due respect, we also recognize that the
absolute commitments that religion often inspires have frequently had
unfortunate, unintended consequences, including violence, intolerance,
and supremacist perspectives. This is by no means to suggest that secular
or militantly atheistic worldviews have not had similar or even more hor
rible outcomes. The legacy of Marxist regimes is there to remind us that
the pathological tendencies of human beings are not erased by espousing
atheism or humanism. But leaving that issue aside, reasonable believers,
as well as those who have no time for religion, acknowledge that religion
has at times generated, in addition to violence, regressive, anti-intellectual,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 39

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

authoritarian and polemical attitudes and practices. The pathologies of reli

gious practice have caused many a thinking person to turn away in disgust,
often throwing the baby out with the dirty bath water.
For the above reasons, coupled with direct experience of religion's
pathologies, many concluded that religion was a primitive stage in human
development which would naturally and gradually wither away as human
beings developed over time. Hence in the 19th and early 20th century,
secularization theory became a dominant view among many intellectuals
and social scientists. There's a vast literature involved in the analysis and
discussion of secularization, but, risking oversimplification, secularization
may be understood as a process whereby the dominance and authority of
religious worldviews becomes recessive, as rationality, science, moderniza
tion and the exposure to pluralism unfold.
In this process, the sphere of the sacred
The ascendancy of the
is gradually differentiated from other
scientific worldview,
spheres of life—the state, the economy,
and what may be civil society—and marginalized. In turn,
called "methodological religion becomes one discrete sphere of
atheism," contributed to life, largely set apart from the state, the
the marginalization of economy, and public life.
religious worldviews. Enlightenment philosophers con
tributed to this discounting of religion,
some seeing religion as a tool used by
the powerful to manipulate the ignorant and illiterate, or as merely a
backward form of superstition that should be rooted out by the light of
reason. This perspective reached its high point in Marxist thought, and
the entirely dismissive view of religion as the "opiate of the masses" and
the "false consciousness" that emerges out of the oppressive substructure
of the capitalist system.
The theory that secularization would inexorably spread as human
beings grew out of their infancy became widespread in the 20th century.
Moreover, the ascendancy of the scientific worldview, and what may be
called "methodological atheism," contributed to the marginalization of
religious worldviews; religion was seen by many as either a quaint relic
of a bygone era, or a kind of obstruction standing in the way of human
emancipation and maturation.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

40 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Furthermore, with increasing immigration and advances in communi

cations technologies, there has arisen a growing awareness of the plurality
of worldviews that make up our world. This has awakened a sense, among
believers and non-believers alike, of the difficulties any one religion faces
in attempting to provide an overarching worldview that would attract
universal affirmation. At the same time, for believers, it became increas
ingly difficult to maintain a closed community, devoid of comparative
temptations. In addition, there have often been hostile and prejudicial
relations among believers of various traditions, especially as they came to
share a common space. Given the clash of religious worldviews, science
and secular language came to prevail in the public sphere. Religious con
cepts, in turn, were increasingly cleansed
of their religious or sacred significance;
Weber concluded that
oftentimes by a form of translation of
religion was the linchpin
religious ideas into secular ideas, e.g.,
that led to the rise of
translating the idea of salvation into the
scientific rationality, the
idea of emancipation or liberation. At
goal-oriented
the same time, the social fact of pluralism work ethic,
the free market economy
and the social fact of religion's pervasive
and efficient bureaucratic
social presence, has made any secularist
administration.
rejection of religion as a legitimate social
force untenable.
Max Weber's social scientific research

was focused on the link between religion and the rise of western rationality,
and the subsequent "disenchantment" of the world that occurred as instru
mental rationality—as the basis of social organization—became dominant.
Unlike Marxists, Weber understood the social and transformative force
of religion. In his analysis of the world's religions, an effort to identify
the causal factor giving rise to the goal-oriented, instrumental rationality
that guided rational administrative processes and business practices that
stimulated manufacturing and trade, Weber concluded that religion was
the primary causal factor, and precisely not a by-product of material forces.
On the contrary, religion was the linchpin that led to the rise of scientific
rationality, the goal-oriented work ethic, the free market economy and
efficient bureaucratic administration. At the same time, he recognized that
these same offspring of religion gave rise of a type of rationality that often

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 41

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

rejected or marginalized religion, hence the "demagification" or "disen

chantment" (Entzauberung) of the world.9
While Weber's ideas-move-history analysis was diametrically opposed to
Marxism's materialist analysis, his conclusion is somewhat similar, namely,
that religion is very likely on its way out, overcome by inexorable condi
tions of the rationalized, modern, political economic system.
One of the leading social scientific and philosophical movements
emerging out of Marxist thought was the school sometimes known as neo
Marxism or critical social theory, most often associated with the Frankfurt
School of Social Research. While the primary focus was not on the language
of peace, its objectives were couched in the language of emancipation and
liberation, and the elimination of the roots of oppression and violence.10
One of the world's leading contemporary thinkers who emerged from
this tradition of critical social theory is Habermas. For example, he served
as a research assistant for Theodor Adorno (Dialectic of the Enlightenment)
at the Frankfurt School for Social Research in the early 1950s, at the
time when Germany was struggling to transition from the legacy of the
pathological political nightmare of Naziism, and the intellectual Zeitgeist
that seemed to provide it the protection it needed to arise. Habermas was
sixteen years old in 1945.
Influenced by the national crisis and shame of Naziism, and the fact
that intellectuals such as Heidegger failed to comprehend its malevolence,
Habermas came to focus on the concept of a public sphere where the
logic of reason can unfold in a transparent communicative process. Thus,
his primary focus has been on the establishment of the moral foundations
for the democratic public sphere. Like Weber, he sees the rise of participa
tory democracy in Europe as a unique social development. Unlike Weber,
Habermas' research project, at least early on, did not reveal any regret over
a loss of religion's force. Rather he affirmed a social evolutionary shift from
archaic, primitive, and traditional societies to modern society, a process
mediated by the development of the human capacity for self-reflection, that
is, the ability to reflect on one's own thinking and one's own beliefs. The
process of rational self-reflection leads the subject to come to an understand
ing of one's worldview as historically situated in some lebenswelt; thus, no
longer a comprehensive worldview, but one particular worldview among
many; a worldview, and not the worldview.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

42 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Habermas, in a passage indicative of his secularist views, has said, "the

aura of rapture and terror that emanates from the sacred, the spellbinding
power of the holy, is sublimated into the binding/bonding force of criti
cizable validity claims." Discourse ethics, and what Habermas has called
the "ideal speech situation," replaces the authority of the sacred. That
is, legitimacy is linked to a consensus formed by communicative action
under conditions of equality of participation, reciprocity and the absence
of coercive forces of money and power. However, ordinary life seldom
unfolds so neatly. In real-life contexts sacred worldviews re-emerge. And
Habermas has taken note. The cry for justice, for example, is often voiced
in religious language long before secularists take notice, or take action. As
Stanley Fish has stated, "In the face of these injustices, a reason 'decoupled
from worldviews' does not, Hamermas
laments, have 'sufficient strength to
Discourse ethics, and
awaken, and to keep awake, in the minds
what Habermas has
of secular subjects, an awareness of the
called
violations of solidarity throughout the the "ideal speech
world, an awareness of what is situation," replaces the
missing,
of what cries out to heaven."11
authority of the sacred.
Habermas' more recent work has
been enlivened by increasing interac
tion with believers, and his own writings reveal a growing awareness of
the ongoing significance of religion, albeit largely a functional significance.
That is, he affirms the fact of religion's ongoing vitality as it functions in
the lives of individuals who live and act in the socio-political world, while
he remains agnostic about the various truth claims espoused by religion.
Functionalism, in the analysis of religion's role in society, does not ques
tion the claims made by religion. While functionalist theory, from the
believer's perspective, is disrespectful or agnostic about religious claims, it
represents a step forward from the denial of religion or the presumption
that religion is a regressive, false or menacing force in society. Consider
this quote from Habermas:

Even today, religious traditions perform the function of articulating an

awareness of what is lacking or absent. They keep alive a sensitivity to
failure and suffering. They rescue from oblivion the dimensions of our

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 43

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

social and personal relations in which advances in cultural and social ratio
nalization have caused utter devastation. Who is to say that they do not
contain encoded semantic potentialities that could provide inspiration if
only their message were translated into rational discourse and their profane
truth contents were set free."12

Increasingly Habermas has challenged secular and post-metaphysical

thinkers to be aware of their own historical limitations and the fallible nature
of their efforts to build the good society, enjoining them to re-think their
attitude toward religion: "The insight that vibrant world religions may be
bearers of 'truth contents,' in the sense of suppressed or untapped moral
intuitions, is by no means a given for the secular portion of the population.
A genealogical awareness of the religious origins of the morality of equal
respect for everybody is helpful in this context. The occidental develop
ment has been shaped by the fact that philosophy continuously appropriates
semantic contents from the Judeo-Christian tradition; and it is an open
question whether this centuries-long learning process can be continued or
even remains unfinished."13
His shift in thinking has important implications for our consideration of
the relationship between religion and peace. On the one hand, it represents
a respectful shift toward a greater appreciation for religion. On the other
hand, his shift also falls short of what believers and other faith-friendly
thinkers would prefer. This falling short lies in the traditional difference
between religion's function, referring to the psychological or social effects
of belief, and religion's meaning, that is, its ability to truthfully illuminate
the nature of reality. Habermas has come to appreciate the ongoing func
tion of religion for billions of human beings in the modern world, even
though he cannot entirely affirm the truths which religious believers claim.
Nevertheless, for peace advocates this is a step in the right direction.
After all, religion has clearly not gone away, whether one likes it or not. It
is a force that must be reckoned with. Moreover, religion has dual capacities
that are essential to peace. The first is its conservative or communitarian
capacity to generate and sustain traditional moral virtues and values and
undergird social stability and bonds of trust and solidarity, such as family and
community. The second is its more prophetic, emancipatory capacity that
has given rise to levels of commitment and sacrifice that have contributed
to moral awakenings and social transformation.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

44 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

I believe Habermas has an appreciation for both these capacities within

religion.

HABERMAS: FROM THE LINGUISTIFICATION OF THE SA

CRED TO THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Habermas, now 82, remains very active and prolific. T

Habermas' own writings is enormous, and the secondary lite
up a massive bibliography. Having lived through the aftermath
Habermas was existentially familiar with the dangers of anti-E
and tradition-driven ideologies and oppressive political systems
allowance for dissent. In 1953, Habermas challenged Heide
German intellectual establishment for failing to stand up again
Habermas' dissertation at the
University of Bonn, in 1954, The
wastheme
on of Habermas'
the thought of Schelling, and hiswork
Jiabili
is to establish the
tation was published in 1962, entitled
normative foundations
Structural Transformation of the Public
for a rational public
Sphere. In this work Habermas reveals
"his interest in a communicative ideal
sphere, characterized by
"communicative action"
that later would provide the core nor
that seeks consensus,
mative standard for his moral-political
theory: the idea of inclusive criticalfree
dis from the dominating
effects
cussion, free of social and economic pres of money and
power.
sures, in which interlocutors treat each
other as equals in cooperative attempt to
reach an understanding on matters of common concern."14
In some ways we can say that the prevailing theme of Habermas' work
is the effort to establish the normative foundations for a rational public
sphere, characterized by "communicative action" that seeks consensus,
free from the dominating effects of money and power. The "ideal speech
situation" allows for inclusion, non-coercion and equality of participation.
In this respect, we can see Habermas as one who upholds the ideal of
universalism which affirms universally applicable moral standards and pro
cedures that provide the conditions that help assure legitimate outcomes.
In this regard, Habermas stands within the Kantian tradition of German
philosophy, though he has made a linguistic turn away from consciousness

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 45

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

philosophy, i.e., transcendental or universal norms are rooted in the moral

presuppositions of speech itself. As a social theorist, Habermas continues
Max Weber's analysis of the emergence of western rationality as the cen
tral characteristic of modernity, underlying the rise of science, democratic
institutions, secularization and the Enlightenment.
Habermas' most systematic work is The Theory of Communicative Action
(TCA), published in Germany in 1981.15 Communicative action, unlike
strategic action, seeks understanding; its telosis to achieve agreement based
on normatively regulated communication, rather than by manipulation or
domination.

Habermas also differentiates between "system" and "lifeworld." The

former has to do with the operation of markets, bureaucratic administration
and political power. The latter refers to our life within interactive commu
nities, such as family, neighborhood, religious and ethnic community, or
the public political sphere. The lifeworld is a public sphere, and, in order
to protect it as a realm of communicative action, effort must be made to
prevent the "colonization of the lifeworld" by instruments of money and
power. The "lifeworld" should be increasingly guided by communicative
rationality, as manifest, for example, in the communicative practices of sci
entific, academic or even many civil society communities. For Habermas,
rationality is manifest most fundamentally in dialogue or discourse that
aims toward uncoerced consensus, a consensus that represents the unforced
force of the best argument.
The rise of the public sphere, according to Habermas, emerged as the
power of traditional worldviews began to diminish. As human beings devel
oped the capacity to reflect on themselves, their beliefs, their traditions, and
their worldviews, there is a natural distancing from tradition. This has been
the underlying process that has yielded the modern world. As previously
mentioned, Habermas spoke in TCA about the "linguistification of the
sacred" suggesting that the authority and power of the sacred was gradu
ally shifting from traditional religion to the realm of communicative action.
Such a perspective is generally consistent with the view that religious
worldviews and traditions will gradually weaken, and greater distance will
emerge between modernity and traditional ways of life. However, the
conflict between tradition and modernity, the querelle des anciens et des
modernes, has not resulted in an unqualified victory for modernity, led

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

46 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

by its seemingly superior rationality. In some sense, the voices of Hegel,

Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Gadamer and contemporary post-modernists and
deconstructionists have not been put to rest. The hegemony of reason, and
indeed its emancipatory claims, have been challenged. Habermas is very
aware of this reality and recognizes the poverty of rationality when it comes
to securing the foundations for moral commitment and social solidarity.
Upon receiving the Peace Prize of German Booksellers in late September
2001, Jurgen Habermas called upon secularists to awaken to the relevance
and significance of religious beliefs.16 This marked something of a turning
point for Habermas, whose philosophy, up until that time, had paid little
respectful attention to religion.
In 2004, Habermas engaged in dia
logue with fellow German and Roman'This is why something
Catholic theologian, Cardinal Joseph
can remain alive in
Ratzinger, who now serves as Pope the communal life of
Benedict XVI. Their dialogue considered
religious fellowships...
the foundations of the good society.
something that has
Habermas reflects on the "pre-political"
been lost elsewhere and
conditions necessary for constitutional
that cannot be restored
democracy and traditions of human
rights. Habermas states, "We find by
in the professional
knowledge
sacred scriptures and religious traditions of experts
intuitions about error and redemption, alone."
about the salvific exodus from a life that is
experienced as empty of salvations; these have been elaborated in a subtle
manner over the course of millennia and have been kept alive through a
process of interpretation. This is why something can remain alive in the
communal life of religious fellowships something that has been lost
elsewhere and that cannot be restored by the professional knowledge of
experts alone."17
Habermas suggests that philosophy often transforms the religious mean
ing of terms, and such has been the interplay of Christianity and Greek
metaphysics. For example, the theological concept of "man in the image
of God" has been transformed to "the identical dignity of all men that
deserves unconditional respect."18 These reflections lead Habermas to speak
of the "post-secular society." Habermas states, "When secularized citizens

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 47

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

act in their role as citizens of the state, they must not deny in principle
that religious images of the world have the potential to express truth."19
In his response to Habermas, Ratzinger states that "I am in broad agree
ment with Jurgen Habermas remarks about a postsecular society, about the
willingness to learn from each other, and about self-limitation on both [secu
lar reason and faith] sides." Ratzinger adds that "Religion must continually
allow itself to be purified and structured by reason."20 In this way, religion
may correct its pathologies. But similarly, there are pathologies of reason,
rooted in the hubris of reason. Hence "reason, too, must be warned to keep
within its proper limits, and it must learn a willingness to listen to the great
religious traditions of mankind." Otherwise, reason becomes destructive.
Ratzinger goes on to speak of the need for complementarity of faith and
reason, and a "universal process of purifi

"Religion must cations" that includes the need to engage

continually allow itself other civilizations and their great faith

traditions, thereby avoiding a Eurocentric
to be purified and
view of the dialogue between faith and
structured by reason."
reason.21 Alternatively, Habermas calls
In this way, religion may
believers to develop capacities to translate
correct its pathologies. their religious ideas and ideals into lan
But similarly, there are guage that is publicly accessible to those
pathologies of reason, who do not share the religious worldview
rooted hubris. from which the ideals have emerged.
Since his dialogue with Ratzinger,
Habermas has continued to reflect further on the role of religion. Although
he remains committed to methodological atheism qua philosopher and
social scientist, even as a social scientist he appreciates both the poverty
of pure rationality and the limits of a public sphere or democratic system
guided by "reason alone." In some respects one can see Habermas retriev
ing his Weberian roots, though of course Weber saw religion as the primary
causal factor in the rise of modernity. Habermas seems to recognize that
religion is here to stay and, moreover, can do things or does things that
rationality alone cannot achieve.
In a more recent interview with Eduardo Mendieta, Habermas says,
and I quote at some length:

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

48 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

In the West, Christianity not only fulfilled the cognitive initial condi
tions for modern structures of consciousness; it also demanded a range
of motivations that were the great theme of the economic and ethical
research of Max Weber. For the normative self-understanding of modernity,
Christianity has functioned as more than just a precursor or a catalyst.
Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideal of freedom and a
collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipa
tion, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy,
is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic
of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of a
continual critical re-appropriation and reinterpretation. Up to this very
day there is no alternative to it. And in light of the current challenges of a
post-national constellation, we must draw sustenance now, as in the past,
from this substance. Everything else is idle postmodern talk."22

This represents a highly nuanced position that affirms religion's ongo

ing role, even a central role in history, while at the same time affirming the
domains of reason and science. Yet this affirmation of religion cannot lead
to triumphalism, for two reasons. First of all, the significance of rational
ity cannot be denied or rejected by religion. Furthermore, religion, in the
modern context, cannot escape the plural multiplicity of religious claims to
truth and wisdom, not all of which claims are overlapping or compatible.
Hence, religion inhabits a world where the existence of both reason
and other religions requires of believers humility. Habermas states,"Thus
modern faith becomes reflexive. Only thorough self-criticism can it stabi
lize the inclusive attitude that it assumes within a universe of discourse,
delimited by secular knowledge and shared by other religions."23 Moreover,
Habermas continues, "This de-centered background consciousness of the
relativity of one's own standpoint certainly does not necessarily lead to the
relativization of articles of faith themselves, but it is nevertheless character
istic of the modern form of religion's faith."24
Habermas does call into question the tendency found in all religions,
if not in all worldviews, toward fundamentalism. He says, "We call 'funda
mentalisms' those religious movements which, given the cognitive limits
of modern life, nevertheless persist in practicing or promoting a return to
the exclusivity of premodern religious attitudes. Fundamentalism lacks the

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 49

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

epistemic innocence of those long-ago realms in which the world religions

first flourished, and which could somehow still be experienced as limitless."
Religion today must endure the "secularization of knowledge" and the
"pluralism of world pictures."25
Habermas adds, "I would not object to the claim that my conception of
language and of communicative action oriented toward mutual understand
ing nourishes itself from the legacy of Christianity. The 'telos of reaching
understanding—the concept of discursively directed agreement which
measures itself against the standard of intersubjective recognition, that is,
the double negation of criticizable validity claims—may well nourish itself
from the heritage of a logos understood as Christian, one that is indeed
embodied (and not just with the Quakers) in the communicative practice
of the religious congregation."26

The problem of the The thread that runs throughout

Habermas's work relates to the relation
system is that the
ship between tradition and public sphere.
instrumental rationality
For example, how do pre-modern, tradi
that guides it cannot tional societies function or co-exist in a
also generate moral modern world, increasingly characterized
vision, commitment and
by post-traditional rationality? Habermas
solidarity. These arise has also stated this dynamic in terms of the
from the lifeworld, or way in which lifeworlds, or forms of life,
from traditions, and or "language games" sustain themselves
primarily from religion. within a larger political and economic
system dominated by money and power.
The problem of the system is that the instrumental rationality that
guides it cannot also generate moral vision, commitment and solidarity.
These arise from the lifeworld, or from traditions, and primarily from reli
gion. The secularist's anticipation that religion's capacity to generate moral
commitment would mature and be translated into post-religious forms has
not been fulfilled. Likewise the view that secularization was both inevitable
and universal has failed to play itself out.
At the same time, religions face their own dilemma. On the one hand,
religion is confronted with the impact of reflexivity that arises from the fact
of pluralism, even the so-called incommensurability of various "language
games" of particular religious sub-cultures. That is, each community comes

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

50 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

to recognize that it is one community, worldview and lifeworld among

many others, each of which may have both similar and competing claims
concerning matters of truth and goodness. On the other hand, the religions
seek to find ways to relate to one another by appeal to shared universal
principles. From where do these universal principles arise if not from within
their own traditions; alternatively, if their tradition has little or nothing to
say about engaging in dialogue with others, then that leaves little room for
dialogue as a common search for truth and goodness.

TRADITIONS AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE

We have seen that Habermas seeks to prevent the weakenin

cative spheres of life, the public sphere, that results from the
ing expansion of the systemic forces of money and power. In
seeks to uphold a universalist moral ideal,
arguing that there are, in fact, universal
Habermas seeks to
moral principles that every moral agent
stand against the
presupposes and implicitly affirms each
tide or relativism that
time they engage in speech acts aimed
at making validity claims about matters
rejects the existence of
foundations for moral
of truth or Tightness or authenticity, etc.
universalism.
That is, we each presuppose that the pro
cess of reaching an understanding should
ideally be guided by reason rather than force, inclusive partic
than exclusion, and openness to the force of the better arg
than an unwillingness to consider other perspectives.
It is not merely the unchecked power of the "system" th
communicative action; it is also threatened by the historici
universalism and proclaim the radical alterity and incommensu
ity of the various forms of life that make up our world. Habe
stand against the tide or relativism that rejects the existence o
for moral universalism.

This is why, for Habermas, there is need to uphold the

of discourse ethics, which provides the standards that und
communication among communicators who represent diver
ditions. If he can secure the normative rules and procedure
communication that yields legitimate outcomes, then this c

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 51

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

to peace and the establishment of a cosmopolitan order. Nicholas Adams

has said, in Habermas and Theology, "He rightly claims that the plurality
of worldviews does not simply produce a lovely rainbow of differences but
throws up profound challenges to how argumentation in the public sphere
is to proceed. He also wishes to point his readers in the direction of an
approach that might coordinate different traditions in the public sphere in
a way that fosters non-violent argumentation and what he calls 'symmetrical
relations' between participants in dialogue."27 Adams states that Habermas
is "insistent on the priority of peace."28
As he seeks to steer a course between Kant's universalist ethics and
Hegel's understanding that the moral life, sittlichkeit, is always embedded
in historical contexts, he faces challenges. The logic of Kant leads to a public
sphere that is populated by transcendental subjects who stand outside of
history's messy particularities. The logic
While he approves of Hegel leads to acceptance that know
of modernity's shift ing subjects are never outside of history;
we are each embedded in universal his
away from religious
tory, and a Zeitgeist from which there is
worldviews, he
nevertheless cannot no escape. This dilemma is also seen in
Habermas' view of religion. While he
find any substitute
approves of modernity's shift away from
for religion's capacity
religious worldviews, he nevertheless
to inspire hope and cannot find any substitute for religion's
redemptive activism. capacity to inspire hope and redemptive
activism. Philosophy falls short of reli
gion's capacity in this regard. Where philosophy, and the realm of logos
fall short, religion, and the realm of mythos, has the capacity "to supply its
members with substantive ethical commitments which can then be coor
dinated via discourse ethics."29
Despite tipping his hat to religion, Habermas' views are off-putting
to any serious believer. For, concerning matters of God and salvation, he
remains agnostic at best. Yet, given his theological limitations, he does
provide a rational basis for dialogue, and argumentation, among traditions,
and in this respect he does not abandon the public sphere to a "Babel" of
competing evangelical orations, kind of like a "Hyde Park Corner" wherein
each tradition has its chance to proclaim and share its narrative.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

52 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Of course, we also know that there exists within most religious tradi
tions a call to hospitality and openness and care for the stranger and the
other, including the non-believer. That is, there are resources for a call to
dialogue within various scriptures. Habermas, however, doesn't have a
starting point in scripture. Thus, his message may be most relevant to those
who are disinterested, negligent, or prejudicial in their attitudes toward
people of faith.
All human communities benefit from rules of communication and argu
mentation for the peaceful, and reasonable settlement of disagreements. In
this respect, Habermas' effort to establish the ground rules for the public
sphere is very important for peace.
Critics of Habermas point to the Hegelian critique of Kant, stating that
even principles of criticism emerge from particular, historical forms of life;
moreover, that human subjects are shaped less by abstract philosophical
ideas than by historical narratives. As Nocholas Adams points out, many
who challenge Habermas' ideas often cite the distinction between narrative
and argumentation, or between world-disclosing ways to wisdom that may
come through literature or sacred texts and logical, rational approaches to
problem-solving.30 For the former, we move toward truth and consensus
by the power of the more compelling narrative. For the latter, we move
toward truth and consensus through structured communicative action.
Habermas makes a distinction between a "normatively ascribed" agree
ment that is based on acceptance of a shared tradition and "communicatively
achieved" consensus which may be obtained between persons of different
traditions. The challenge is to find a way to accommodate both perspec
tives. Are they antithetical or complementary? What do faith and reason,
Jerusalem and Athens, Caesar and the Pope, the CivitasDei and the Civitas
terrena, have to do with one another? Do they complement one another?
Is there some way the domain of Cain and that of Abel can find a way to
work together. Is this not the essence of peacebuilding?

COMMUNICATION ETHICS, RELIGION AND THE UNITED

NATIONS

If we consider a document such as the charter of the United Nations

speaks in secular language, we can recognize that this secular, politic
guage is indebted to concepts formerly embedded in religious worldv

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 53

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

Throughout its history, the UN has had only nation-states as its members.
Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, may be affiliated with the
United Nations either through the Department of Public Information
or the Economic and Social Council, but they are not members. There
are several thousand NGOs affiliated with the United Nations. Many of
these are faith-based organizations. Traditionally the place of religion and
religious voices has not been centrally positioned within the UN system.
However, in the year 2000, things began to change. Just prior to the
convening of the UN's Millennium General Assembly, which attracted the
largest number of heads of state and government ever assembled and which
produced the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals,
two important events took place. One was the convening of a congress
of spiritual leaders in New York, known as the Millennium World Peace
Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders; this conference addressed such
topics as peace, poverty and sustainable development. A second, and more
sustained program, was convened also in August under the sponsorship of
the Universal Peace Federation [at that time known as the Interreligious
and International Federation for World Peace], founded by the Rev. Sun
Myung Moon, who delivered an address at the United Nations, calling for
the establishment of an interreligious council within the United Nations
system. Moon argued that with the creation of such a council, making the
United Nations a kind of bicameral house, the UN "will be able to make
great advances in ushering in a world of peace. The wisdom and vision of
the great religious leaders will substantially supplement the political insight,
experience and skill of the world's political leaders."31
Since the Millenium General Assembly, significant advances have
been made in terms of the United Nations signaling a more accommo
dating position vis a vis religion. In 2004, a resolution, sponsored by the
Philippines, was passed by the General Assembly (59/23), calling for the
"Promotion of Interreligious Dialogue." In 2006 a Tripartite Forum on
Interfaith Cooperation for Peace was called for, aiming at partnership
among the member states, the UN bodies, and NGOs. In 2007, General
Assembly Resolution 61/221 called for the establishment of a Focal Unit
in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In December 2009, the
General Assembly adopted a resolution 64/81 calling for the Promotion of
Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue. In 2010, H.M. King Abdullah II

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

54 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

of Jordan introduced a proposal calling for a week dedicated to interfaith har

mony. On this foundation, in October of2010, a resolution of the General
Assembly was passed calling for a "World Interfaith Harmony Week" to be
celebrated each year during the first week of February. Throughout this
same ten-year period, both the former Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and
the current Secretary, General Ban Ki Moon, have frequently included in
their speeches references to the significance of interfaith dialogue for efforts
to secure a lasting peace. The Office of the President of the 66th Session
of the General Assembly, H.E. Nasir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, is preparing a
special session in the General Assembly, scheduled for February 7, 2012,
in honor of the "World Interfaith Harmony Week."
These developments are concurrent with the growth of a post-secular
consciousness that, while it may not itself be a religious awakening, is
nonetheless an awareness that religion
should no longer be excluded or marginThese developments
alized, or viewed as uniquely disqualified[in the UN] are
to participate openly in the public sphere.concurrent with the
Even if religion's weaknesses and historigrowth of a post
cal sins are acknowledged, this in no way secular consciousness
should disqualify religion from being fullythat an awareness
welcomed in the company of equally,
that religion should no
and sometimes more seriously flawed
longer be excluded or
diplomats, political leaders, governments,
NGOs, and private sector representatives.
marginalized, or viewed
I believe Habermas' insights are quite as uniquely disqualified
relevant to the United Nations, and to to participate openly in
religion, in three very important respects.the public sphere.
First of all, his analysis of the public
sphere and the effort to build a cosmopolitan order, as the fulfillment of
the "Enlightenment project," building on the normative ideal of the com
munication community seeking consensus in the public sphere, guided by
the "unforced force of the better argument," provides a strong theoretical
foundation for the United Nations, and indeed the reform of the United
Nations, widely recognized as appropriate and necessary at this stage. In
this respect, the UN is a communication community, seeking to fulfill the
telos of speech, namely, a consensus based on reason, and free from the

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 55

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

non-discursive forces of money and power. As Habermas has stated, "I have
been concerned with the postnational constellation and the future of the
Kantian project of establishing a cosmopolitan order."32 He says further,
"The Kantian project only found its way onto the political agenda with the
League of Nations, in other words after more than two centuries; and the
idea of a cosmopolitan order only acquired an institutional embodiment
with the foundation of the United Nations."33
Yet, it is widely recognized that the United Nations faces enormous
challenges, many of which are beyond the scope of the traditional nation
state or the traditional operating principle of the United Nations: national
sovereignty. Habermas points out that "The nation-states have long since
become entangled in the interdependencies of a complex world society. The
latter's sub-systems effortlessly permeate national borders—with accelerated
information and communication flows, worldwide movements of capital,
networks of trade and production, technology transfers, mass tourism,
labor migration, scientific communication, etc." Moreover, "This global
society is also integrated through the same media of power, money, and
consensus as the nation-states."34
Transnational networks continue to develop, enhanced by digital tech
nologies. Habermas notes that these "networked flows of information"
have a wide impact. He says, for example, "Beyond the nation-state, verti
cal power-based dependencies are receding behind horizontal interactions
and functional interconnections."35 These views are consistent with the
analysis of the "High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change,"
commissioned during the tenure of Kofi Annan, and which produced the
report, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsbility}6
Habermas suggests that there is a growing cosmopolitan order, and
a rising sense of transnational citizenship, a reality that is implied in the
concept of human rights, and implied in the limits that such documents
as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights places on national sover
eignty. He sees this growing "public sphere" in a variety of manifestations:
"Decisions taken at the supranational level concerning war and peace and
justice and injustice do indeed attract the attention and critical responses
of a global public—just think of the interventions in Vietnam, Kosovo,
and Iraq, and the cases of Pinochet, Milosevic, and Saddam. The dispersed
society of world citizens becomes mobilized on an ad hoc basis through

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

56 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

spontaneous responses to events and decisions of such import. Shared moral

indignation extends across the gulfs separating different cultures, forms of
life, and religions as a response to egregious human rights violations and
manifest acts of aggression. Such shared reactions, including those spawned
by sympathy for the victims of humanitarian and natural disasters, gradually
produce traces of cosmopolitan solidarity."37
Habermas' theory of the public sphere and the rise of a global society
and global solidarity provide important analytical tools that may serve to
guide the United Nations toward reforms relevant to the global changes
that have taken place since 1945.
The second way in which Habermas provides valuable insights relevant
to the reform of the United Nations is in the area of religion. In the forego
ing discussion, we have seen Habermas articulate the need for a revision of
secularism's unenlightened dismissal of religion. The Enlightenment proj
ect that, at least to some extent, found its ideals embodied in the United
Nations, is in need of correction. Religion cannot be ignored, and neither
can it be viewed as irrelevant, nor as merely a nuisance or menace. On the
contrary, on a functional level, religion is profoundly important for most of
the world's people. It is virtually impossible to imagine global citizenship
without recognizing that the vast majority of such citizens are believers
who do not view their beliefs as quaint curiosities.
Additionally, while affirming the functionality of religion, Habermas
also concedes the meaningfulness of religion, admitting that its world
disclosing narratives, guiding principles and truth claims cannot be sum
marily dismissed, for they have, historically, served as the basis for many, if
not most of the ideals that inspire humanity to its highest and most noble
achievements. This is not to ignore the many pathological, immature, and
distorted expressions of religion.
Based on Habermas' analysis, however, we can to see the legitimacy
of the claim that religion should have a place at the table in a reformed
United Nations system.
Finally, the ideal of the communication community also serves as a
very important regulative ideal for interfaith dialogue, offering a normative
framework for believers of various religions to improve their intersubjective
relations, both internally among fellow-believers, as well as with believers
of other traditions. The secularization of most modern societies, coupled

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012 57

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

with the empirical, social reality of pluralism, has had a marginalizing impact
on traditional worldviews. Traditional worldviews and religions have been
called to a form of self-reflection that results in situating themselves histori
cally and comparatively within the broader scheme of things. This outcome
is very difficult to avoid. Habermas states, "Every religion is originally a
'worldview' or 'comprehensive doctrine' in the sense that it claims author
ity to structure a form of life in its entirety. A religion must relinquish this
claim within a secularized society marked by a pluralism of worldviews."38
This assertion is of course problematic for believers, both those who
deny the historicity and fallibility of their tradition, call them fundamen
talists, and those who accept historical situatedness and fallibilism, call
them liberals. There are, however, ways to engage in self-reflection and
self-criticism while maintaining a faithful
commitment to the truth one has come
"Every religion is
to know. In a certain sense, any deeply
originally a 'worldview'
held truth may be questioned, challenged
or 'comprehensive
and even may be proven to be flawed.
doctrine' in the sense
Believers should always remain open in
that it claims authority
this sense. In fact, although doctrinal
to structure a form of
absolutism may be the norm for religion,
life in its entirety. A there are theological perspectives which
religion must relinquishacknowledge a gap between human
this claim within a knowledge of truth and the reality of God
secularized society and the ways of God. Most notably the
marked by a pluralism of
field of hermeneutics has taught us that
worldviews." there are no uninterpreted texts. That is,
texts are always interpreted by particular
historical human beings. We cannot escape our particularity.
Habermas speaks of a "dialectical understanding of cultural seculariza
tion," stating that the "modernization of public consciousness....affects
and changes religious and secular mentalities alike by forcing the tradition
of the Enlightenment, as well as religious doctrines, to reflect on their
respective limits, then the international tensions between major cultures
and world religions also appear in a different light."39 For example, the
liberal state protects religious freedom in accordance with secular law and
human rights, and religions respect the state for providing such a realm

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

58 VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

of freedom; religions also tolerate, and in some cases respect or appreciate

the other religious worldviews. This does not require that one embrace a
relativistic view of truth or belief.
In a post-secular world, religion is increasingly less marginalized or
excluded from the public sphere. Exclusion would be a denial of the his
torical and cultural roots of most societies, nation states and civilizations;
exclusion would also represent a failure to acknowledge the religious roots
of even secularized concepts and norms. This has implications for politics
and international relations, and transnational relations, including the United
Nations, as has been said. The steady rise of interfaith dialogue and intrafaith
dialogue over the past 120 years, dating back to the 1893 Parliament of
the World's Religions convened at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago,
is itself a developmental step in the history of religion that was not antici
pated by secularization theorists. Interfaith dialogue is a particular public
sphere that works to improve the intersubjectivity of believers across various
traditions. In many ways, the interfaith "movement" is a forerunner of the
broader interfaith public sphere that is the very character of most of our
communities; we live not only in a multi-ethnic, multi-religions world, but
also in multi-faith neighborhoods, cities and nations.
Religion is here to stay for it is an expression of our need to understand
our ultimate origins, our human condition and our ultimate destiny. Neither
science, nor secular society has been able to supplant either the function of
religion or the meaning it provides.

Notes

1. Samuel Huntingon, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World

Order, New York: Touchtone, 1996.
2. Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order, New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 2011.
3. Habermas, Between Naturalism and Religion, Cambridge, UK: Polity
Press, 2008, p. 12.
4. Ibid.

5. Andrew Wilson, Editor, World Scripture: An Anthology of Sacred Te

New York: Paragon House, 1991, p. 31.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST-SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

6. Ibid., p. 43.
7. Ibid. p. 88.
8. Ibid., 198.
9. Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, New York:
Scribner's, 1958.
10. Jurgan Habermas, "The Entwinement of Myth and Enlightenment: Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno," in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity:
Twelve Lectures, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987, pp. 106-130.
11. Stanley Fish, "Does Reason Know What It Is Missing?," in The New Tork
7im«"Opinionator," April 12, 2010, p. 3.
12. Habermas, Naturalism and Religion, p. 6.
13. Jurgeh Habermas, "'The Political': The Rational Meaning of a
Questionable Inheritance of Political Theology," in The Power of Religion in the
Public Sphere, ed., Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan Vanantwerpen, New York:
Columbia University Press, p. 27.
14. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (on line), "Jurgen Hambermas," James
Bohman and William Rehg, p. 2.
15. Jurgen Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. I, Reason
and the Rationalization of Society, Thomas MacCarthy, translator, Boston: Beacon
Press, 1984; Vol. IILifeworld and System, Thomas MacCarthy, Translator, Boston:
Beacon Press, 1987. Published in German in 1981.
16. Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger, The Dialectics of Secularization:
On Reason and Religion, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, p. 19.
17. Ibid. p. 43.
18. Ibid. p. 45.
19. Ibid. p. 15.
20. Ibid., p. 77.
21. Ibid., p. 79.
22. Jurgen Habermas, Religion and Rationality: Essays on Reason, God and
Modernity, edited by Eduardo Mendieta, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002, p. 149.
23. Ibid., p. 150.
24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid., p. 160.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RELIGION, PEACE AND THE POST SECULAR PUBLIC SPHERE

27. Nicholas Adams, Habermas and Theology, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2006, p. 237.
28. Ibid., p. 236.
29. Ibid.

30. Ibid., p. 239.

31. Sun Myung Moon, Renewing the United Nations to Build Lasting Peace,"
in Renewing the United Nations and Building a Culture of Peace, ed., Thomas G.
Walsh, New York: IIFWP Publications, 2000, p. 65.
32. Ibid. p. 22.
33. Habermas, Naturalism, p. 312.
34. Ibid., p. 333.
35. Ibid., p. 347.
36. A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Report of the Secretary
General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, New York: United
Nations, 2004.
37. Ibid., p. 344.
38. Ibid., p. 307.
39. Ibid.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE

VOL. XXIX NO. 2 JUNE 2012

This content downloaded from

152.32.99.247 on Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:44:39 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms