A School for Conscience
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cosmopoin thinking about the formation of social identities. Here too we draw on and yet think differently than certain types of current neohumanism.In order to educate the cosmopolitan conscience, we must begin this litan conscience as a distinct idea about the task of theological humanism
chapter with a problem now found on the global field of social interactions. Our concern, recall, is not just with the freedom much more with freedom within religion as a dictate of conscience.of or from religion, but
The importance of identity for social and political thought is not difficult to grasp, especially on the world scene.The Conflict of Powers (^1) Human beings are born unformed and,
accordingly, through processes of social formation and self-cultivation, “edu-cation,” receive and achieve a view of the world, a sense of belonging (or alienation), and an identity. Identity markers like religion, gender, race, or class specify how individuals and communities see themselves and others.
What is more, there is the constant desire and pressure by individuals and groups for have standing with and before others. As we saw in chapter 5, recognition, shame, benevolence, and other sensibilities are motivations in human life. recognition. People want to be recognized and acknowledged to
Not surprisingly, there are worldwide struggles for recognition among those who are ignored or effaced by dominant social powers. The struggles for recognition among women and colonized peoples (to name just two forms of struggle) are forms of resistance to forces of dehumanization. The ques-
tion about human identity and the kinds of freedom people have in their social lives is thereby important in our context.and religious outlooks. On the one side are thinkers like Daniel C. Dennett, The debate about identity is often cast as a collision between political
a philosopher at Tufts University. In his book where, Dennett argues that protecting democracy must come before pro-moting any faith. In fact, protecting democracy might require policies that act against specific religions. Religion thwarts human freedom and forms Breaking the Spell and else-
identity around superstitious beliefs that derail democratic societies.Religion robs people of the choice about how to live by demanding mind-less conformity. On the other side are those who insist that the public square is “naked,” as Richard Neuhaus put it. (^3) Citizens in “secular” liberal^2
democratic societies are required to bracket their faith-convictions in order to participate in free and open political debate. In doing so their ability to provide robust reasons for their political commitments is endangered.