Principled Pluralism Research Articles

The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society

The Digital Public Square: Christian Ethics in a Technological Society

Religious pluralism, public religion, and principled pluralism in Indonesia

Acts of intolerance in Indonesia are usually carried out against non-Muslim groups and Christians who are targeted, especially in cases related to the destruction of places of worship. Secularism has offered a solution to religious radicalism by drawing an absolute separation between religion and the state. However, viewed from a post-secularism perspective, secularism cannot be the right solution to religious radicalism. Post-secularism has played an essential role as a way for religion to enter into public life, but it has not comprehensively discussed how religion should function within it. It is hoped that religious freedom can be fully implemented in Indonesia, because Pancasila guarantees it so that confessional pluralism can be realized in the context of sphere sovereignty. The study's findings offer principled pluralism to provide an understanding of the place of religion in a post-secular society and how it should function within it to resolve religious intolerance.

Principled Pluralism and the Prevention of Religious Terrorism in Indonesia

A number of religious terrorism acts closely related to the 9/11 event had happened in Indonesia and disrupted the nation’s stability and harmony. The hard-power approach that the Indonesian government had hitherto employed to curb terrorism had not succeeded in eradicating religious terrorist groups entirely. A soft-power approach is needed to contest the indoctrination that the terrorist exercised on their followers and to halt the recruitment of new terrorists. Although the savageness of religious terrorism has given religion a terrifying impression, taking a shortcut by restricting the role of religion to the private sphere—as applied by secular countries—has not proven successful. Rejecting the solution offered by secular countries, this article offers the idea of principled pluralism with its vision of religious freedom as a soft-power solution in treating religious terrorism. By opposing tyranny and authoritarianism, religious freedom would hopefully break the chain of consolidation maintained by religious terrorists with their followers. By using principled pluralism as a hermeneutical lens to read Pancasila, this article argues that civil society is the only channel for religion to contribute significantly to Indonesian society.

Humanitarian Crisis and the Arduous Path to Principled Pluralism: A Politico-Theological Analysis on Indian and Turkish Foreign Policies (2014-2019)

This research aims to analyze the influence of political theology in the foreign policy of Indian and Turkish from 2014 to 2019. India and Turkey used political theology as one of the essential considerations for the conduct of foreign policies during the humanitarian crisis. Both countries were trying to conduct “politics of salvation” to protect their fellow faithful from the oppression in the neighboring regions. While conducting its politics of salvation in their foreign policies, India and Turkey were trying to protect their fellow faithful from the oppression from the constructed others. This research argues that the politics of salvation in its foreign policy will influence both countries’ religious freedom and secularism. This research would like to utilize the concept of “politics of principled pluralism” that Robert Joustra developed. In its analysis, this research engages with several articles from news outlets and research journals to construct arguments on the conduct of the foreign policy of India and Turkey in times of humanitarian crisis. This research found that India and Turkey had tried to implement their version of “politics of salvation” that deteriorate religious freedom and inclusive democracy.

Doing Justice to Religious Diversity: Theological Foundations for “Principled Pluralism”

This article argues a theological case for “principled pluralism,” a particular stance regarding the proper attitude of the state towards the plural religious affiliations of its citizens. Its central claim is that the role of the state is both to defend the religious freedom of adherents to all faiths and to maintain a public square equally open to contributions from all faiths without publicly privileging any faith, even Christianity. It develops the argument in critical dialogue with a “Christian nation” position, according to which nations can exercise corporate religious agency, should be formed where possible according to Christian principles, and in which Christian citizens should call their governments to support the nation’s Christian character. KEYWORDS: Principled pluralism, religious diversity, state, Christian nation, public square

Hope for Religious Freedom for All in China

What theological foundation can best procure, promote, and protect religious freedom for all? If obstacles to securing the peaceful public manifestation of religious faith in the context of the diverse worldviews in the “public square” depend on the state, however, what is next? In China, the Communist Party routinely uses persecution and other tyrannical tactics to eliminate the expression of religious beliefs, making religious freedom appear out of reach. Nevertheless, research projects the demise of communism in China and increased Christianization and democratization. If this transition takes place, a contextualization of principled pluralism, baorong duoyuan, offers the best theoretical, practical foundation for religious freedom for all faiths in China’s future. KEYWORDS: Religious freedom, persecution, China, principled pluralism, communism, Christianization, baorong duoyuan

PLURALISME PRINSIPIIL DAN REFLEKSINYA TERHADAP PANCASILA

This article uses theological-ethical approach to focus on the presentation of the relationship of religion and state in the concept of principled pluralism and provides a reflection on the life of the nation and state in Indonesia which has Pancasila. The theological basis used as a reference is the Reformed theology of the Neo-Calvinism wing which was pioneered by Abraham Kuyper and forwarded by ideas from Kuyperians such as Gordon Spykman, James Skillen, Jonathan Chaplin. The author will argue that Pancasila is in harmony with principled pluralism.
 KEY WORDS: principled pluralism, structural pluralism, confessional pluralism, Pancasila.

Liberté, Laïcité, Pluralité: Towards a Theology of Principled Pluralism

While the Charlie Hebdo attacks unleashed a highly distinctive national debate within France, that debate also serves to throw into sharp relief the deepening tensions generated by increasingly complex relationships between the state and religion across much of Europe, not least due to the arrival of immigrant minority faiths wishing to advance claims in what is widely assumed to be ‘secular’ public space. After reviewing these tensions, the article distinguishes five current European responses to them and proposes a model of ‘principled pluralism’ as a theologically defensible option. The original theological roots of such a model are outlined and six indicative contemporary practical implications proposed.

John Rawls, Barack Obama, and the Pluralist Political Consensus

To counter partisan polarization, political theorists like John Rawls and political leaders like Barack Obama have sought to locate and express consensual elements of American culture that can appeal to or at least be accepted by people having political, religious, moral, and philosophical differences. While orthodox pluralism previously recognized the need for a normative consensus to regulate political struggles, a new principled pluralism expands on the contents of the American consensus by proposing many political principles and philosophical assumptions that are articulated at an intermediate level of abstraction, that express the emerging (though not always present) common sensibilities of most Americans, and that can be used to justify political policies and practices.

The Practice of Pluralism: Jeffrey Stout and Abraham Kuyper on Religion and Civil Solidarity

AbstractThe concept of solidarity plays a significant role within the discursive framework of modern social philosophy. This article points to the notion that solidarity is central to North American philosopher Jeffrey Stout and Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper’s respective visions for civil society. The article proposes that framing civil society under the category of solidarity is something to be affirmed, as is the quest for a space in which religious pluralism can be encouraged and facilitated. Thus, the article proposes that Christian theologians would do well to lean on a contemporary voice such as Stout, an ally in assessing and critiquing secular liberalism’s prospects in our own day, and Kuyper, a provider of rich theological resources for advancing Stout’s general project, although with some qualification. Both can move the conversation regarding religion and civil society forward. Stoutians and Kuyperians can benefit from this exchange as well. Stoutians can glean several insights from Kuyperians as they consider possible religious resources for moving toward a civil solidarity that embraces religious voices. Kuyperians can find a contemporary North American interlocutor for developing their notion of principled pluralism in civil society.

After this nothing happened

In response to Michiel van Eijck and Wolff-Michael Roth’s article and Michael Mueller and Deborah Tippin’s rejoinder, we explore traditional ecological knowledges as science education. Adopting a stance of situated partial perspectives, and drawing on selected literature in science and technology studies and feminist postcolonial theories, we reflect on acts of dissociation, localism, utilitarianism and principled pluralism as referent points for epistemological and pedagogical renewal. In conclusion, we return to an opening narrative of cultural loss combined with an invitation to imagine science pedagogy as a site of possibility, vulnerability and fragility. Such an invitation, we suggest, involves troubling manifestations of pedagogical and epistemic desires of normative closures and certitude. What now remains is a series of tensions and open questions for further work.

PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND DEMOCRACY'S FUTURE

Enduring civilizations have had a religious, moral architecture to guide leaders and evoke sacrificial commitments. The Judeo-Christian tradition offers two biblicalthemes that undergird the “principled pluralism” that presses society toward democracy: the recognition of sin and the possibility of covenant. A serious public theology will engage the great world religions to find comparable concepts and prospects for an emerging global civil society. A viable democracy depends on a division of powers not only within the government, but among the institutions outside state control in a viable civil society. And civil society is strongest where multiple religious institutions are well developed.

Pluralism, The Ethical Matrix, and Coming to Conclusions

The ethical matrix approach was developed by Prof Ben Mepham and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in the early 1990s. Since then the approach has received increasing attention and has been used by several researchers in different projects related to assessing ethical impacts of different food production technologies and other policy options of societal concern. The ethical matrix is sometimes understood simply as a checklist of ethical concerns, but might also be seen as a guide to coming to conclusions on moral questions. The problem I discuss in this paper relates to how using the ethical matrix method as a decision guide can be combined with respecting pluralism. The aim of the paper is to suggest a framework making it possible to – at the same time – enhance public justification of judgments and respect pluralism. I argue that pluralism is fundamental to the ethical matrix approach; I distinguish between intuitionist principled pluralism and societal value pluralism; and I show how both kinds of pluralism imply restrictions on how conclusions can be made. No substantive moral decision principles can be allowed. Still, I argue, decision principles of a more epistemological or procedural character can be acceptable even within pluralism. The pragmatist principle of inquiry is defended as an account of moral problem solving compatible with both principled pluralism and value pluralism. When an ethical matrix is used within such a participatory inquiry process substantive conclusions can be drawn.

Public theology and Democracy’s future

Abstract Enduring civilizations have had a religious, moral architecture to guide leaders and evoke sacrificial commitments. The Judeo-Christian tradition offers two biblicalthemes that undergird the “principled pluralism” that presses society toward democracy: the recognition of sin and the possibility of covenant. A serious public theology will engage the great world religions to find comparable concepts and prospects for an emerging global civil society. A viable democracy depends on a division of powers not only within the government, but among the institutions outside state control in a viable civil society. And civil society is strongest where multiple religious institutions are well developed.

WHY BRANDYWINE REVIEW?

Abstract Religion has long been ignored and misunderstood by academics and activists engaged in global affairs. And global affairs have often been ignored and misunderstood by religious people in America. The Review exists to explore the nexus between faith and international issues. It promotes a principled pluralism that avoids the pitfalls of relativism and secular or religious exclusion. The word “Brandywine” comes fromthe Brandywine River region in Pennsylvania where the Institute for Global Engagement (publisher of The Review) was originally headquartered.

Max Weber's Liberalism

There are a variety of possible approaches to Weber's political thought. One can emphasize his class-conscious attack upon the new East Elbian agrarian capitalists, or his commitment to a politics of responsibility, in which the probable consequences of political proposals are explicitly assessed and announced. Wolfgang Mommsen has focused upon Weber's nationalism, almost to the exclusion of other aspects of his work. Jürgen Habermas has suggested that Weber tended to reduce ultimate value choices to essentially gratuitous, purely personal decisions. The emphasis in the present essay, however, is upon Weber's liberal pluralism, which anticipated a principled value pluralism, and which was a profound and persistent theme in his political commentaries.

How Should Evangelicals Think about Politics? Roger Williams and the Case for Principled Pluralism

The resurgence of evangelical political activity in many parts of the world raises the question of whether Christianity can legitimately be a state religion. In recent years a growing number of evangelicals have argued that it cannot. Principled pluralists maintain that Christians ought on principle to advocate non-confessional states in which all religions enjoy civil liberty and equality. This article defends principled pluralism by adding an historical dimension to its case. It shows that far from being the ‘new kid on the block’, principled pluralism has roots which run deep within the evangelical protestant tradition. The seventeenth century puritan Roger Williams, for instance, advanced a thoroughly biblical argument for full religious liberty and the secular state. After describing his argument, the article deals with objections to principled pluralism and suggests that it is the most promising philosophy for evangelicals involved in politics.