How, When, and Why Do Religious Actors Use Public Reason? The Case of Assisted Dying in Britain

The public reason criterion is a prominent theme in contemporary political theory. Yet scholars have focused predominantly on conceptual and normative issues at the expense of empirical questions about the language used by actors engaged in political debate. This is a particular problem in the case...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Politics and religion
Main Author: Kettell, Steven 1973- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2019]
In: Politics and religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Great Britain / Secularism / Terminal care / Debate / Religious group / Argumantation
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
CB Christian life; spirituality
KBF British Isles
ZB Sociology
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Description
Summary:The public reason criterion is a prominent theme in contemporary political theory. Yet scholars have focused predominantly on conceptual and normative issues at the expense of empirical questions about the language used by actors engaged in political debate. This is a particular problem in the case of religious actors, whose underlying motives for taking part in such debates are frequently driven by theological concerns. This paper explores these issues by analyzing religious opposition to the legalization of assisted dying in Britain. It shows that religious actors have tended toward the use of secular rather than theological modes of argumentation, and that this is consistent with the idea of a strategic shift in response to the increasingly secularized nature of British society.
ISSN:1755-0491
Contains:Enthalten in: Politics and religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S175504831800086X