THE SECULAR LIBERAL STATE AND RELIGIONexamples can be found in other countries—illustrates how the ties of constitutional patri-
otism form and renew themselves in the political medium itself.
Contrary to a widespread misunderstanding, ‘‘constitutional patriotism’’ means that
citizens make the principles of the constitution their own, not simply with regard to
abstract content, but from within the historical context of each individual national history
in its concrete meaning. If the moral contents contained within basic rights are to gain a
foothold as part of our convictions, the cognitive process is not enough. Moral discern-
ment and worldwide consensus in the form of moral indignation at severe violations of
human rights are sufficient only for the integration of a constitutionalized cosmopolitan
society (if there should one day be one). Solidarity among the members of a political
society, however abstract and legally mediated it may be, emerges only when the principles
of justice find their way into the more densely woven network of cultural values.
3
Accordingly, the secular nature of the democratic constitutional state shows no weakness
inherent to the political system as such, that is, no internal weakness that would cogni-
tively or motivationally endanger its self-stabilization. External reasons are not, however,
thereby excluded. A derailing modernization of society as a whole could very well erode
the democratic bond and drain the democratic state of the kind of solidarity upon which
it depends, without being able to command it legally. In this instance, the very constella-
tion that Bo ̈ckenfo ̈rde had in mind would come to pass: the transformation of citizens of
affluent, peaceful, and liberal societies into isolated monads who act only in their own
self-interest, wielding their rights as subjects against one another like weapons. Evidence
for such an erosion of civic solidarity can be seen in the larger context of a politically
uncontrolled world economy and world society. Markets—which, unlike state adminis-
trations, cannot, of course, be democratized—are increasingly assuming allocative func-
tions over the areas of life that had, until now, been held together normatively by either
political or prepolitical forms of communication. It is not only private spheres that are
increasingly being given over to the mechanisms of action that is oriented toward success
and unfolds according to its own respective preferences: the segment subject to the con-
straints of public legitimation is also shrinking. Civil privatization is strengthened because
democratic opinion- and will-formation, discouragingly, fails to function properly. At the
moment, it operates reasonably well only in national arenas and no longer influences
decision-making processes that have been displaced to supra-national levels. Dwindling
hope that the international community has the power to shape politics also contributes
to the de-politicization of citizens. In view of the conflicts and outrageous social injustices
of a highly fragmented world society, disappointment grows with the failure of each new
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