Habermas on Religion in the Public Sphere

Jurgen Habermas has posted Religion in the Public Sphere, which is a chapter from his new book, Between Naturalism and Religion.  (HT: Solum)  Here is an excerpt:

The permissibility of non-translated religious utterances in the political public sphere can be normatively justified not only in view of the fact that we must not expect Rawls’s proviso to apply to those of the faithful who cannot abstain from the political use of ‘private’ reasons without endangering their religious mode of life. For functional reasons, we should not over-hastily reduce the polyphonic complexity of public voices, either. For the liberal state has an interest in unleashing religious voices in the political public sphere, and in the political participation of religious organizations as well. It must not discourage religious persons and communities from also expressing themselves politically as such, for it cannot know whether secular society would not otherwise cut itself off from key resources for the creation of meaning and identity. Secular citizens or those of other religious persuasions can under certain circumstances learn something from religious contributions; this is, for example, the case if they recognize in the normative truth content of a religious utterance hidden intuitions of their own.

Rob