Habermas: “Religion in the Public Sphere”
The European Journal of Philosophy has made its April 2006 issue temporarily available for free. The lead essay of the issue is by Habermas, entitled "Religion in the Public Sphere". Though the subject is rightly treated from a conceptual and philosophical perspective, the essay clearly engages contemporary issues as well. Just a passage:
Two days after the last Presidential elections, an essay appeared, written by a historian, and entitled ‘The Day the Enlightenment Went Out’. He asked the alarmist question: ‘Can a people that believes more fervently in the Virgin Birth than in evolution still be called an Enlightened nation? America, the first real democracy in history, was a product of the Enlightenment values . . . Though the founders differed on many things, they shared these values of what then was modernity . . . Respect for evidence seems not to pertain any more, when a poll taken just before the election showed that 75% of Mr. Bush’s supporters believe Iraq either worked closely with Al Qaeda or was directly involved in the attacks of 9/11’.
Irrespective of how one evaluates the facts, the election analyses confirm that the cultural division of the West runs right through the American nation itself: conflicting value orientations—God, gays and guns—have manifestly covered over more tangibly contrasting interests. Be that as it may, President Bush has a coalition of primarily religiously motivated voters to thank for his victory. This shift in power indicates a mental shift in civil society that also forms the background to the academic debates on the political role of religion in the state and the public sphere.
(I am not sure how long the issue will remain available to the general public.)