Religion and Public Life: Continuing Debate

Abstract

The chapter argues that religions are not to be confined to the realm of the private (as so many theories suggest), but have a critical public role to play today, however, with due recognition of the autonomy of temporal realities—politics, economy, culture, science, and so on. The chapter shows how the debate in the North has shifted from denial to increasing recognition of public role of religion, albeit under certain conditions. The chapter examines the views of John Rawls, Habermas, and others and reads their approach to the public role of religion through the experiences in the Global South. The chapter examines to what extent a public role of religion is possible in the multireligious context of the South. The chapter goes to highlight the importance of developing public theology today, similar to public sociology and public philosophy. The chapter presents theologians as public intellectuals whose interventions are crucial for the transformation of societies. This is true of theology both in the Global North and the South.KeywordsPublic life “comprehensive doctrines”Public reasonLimits of the secularPublic/privatePublic theologyCivil religionPublic concerns of the SouthTheologian as public intellectual