Religious Claims and the Dynamics of Argument

Authors

M. Cathleen Kaveny, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2001

Publication Information

36 Wake Forest L. Rev. 423 (2001)

Abstract

This Article investigates the questions whether and when religious claims may enter into public debate about important political issues by considering the purposes of argument in the public square. These purposes include: (1) argument as self-disclosure; (2) argument as persuasion; and (3) argument as bulwark against engagement with the ideas of others. The Article argues that restrictions on the use of religious claims in public deliberations and discussion impede the legitimate functions of public argument as self-disclosing and persuasive activities. In contrast, such restrictions contribute to the use of argument as bulwark, which is arguably destructive to public deliberation in a pluralistic society.

Comments

Copyright by Wake Forest Law Review. Reprinted with permission.

Recommended Citation

M. C. Kaveny, Religious Claims and the Dynamics of Argument, 36 Wake Forest L. Rev. 423 (2001).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/357