Habermas, Religion, and Citizenship

Abstract

What is the appropriate place for religious argument in the public realm of a liberal-democratic polity? The primary competing positions have been a "liberal" account and a "revisionist" response arguing for a greater role for religious argument in liberal democracy than the liberal position is ordinarily understood to allow. Liberals and their revisionist critics disagree about whether restraints on religious arguments and justifications are justified and desirable. Jürgen Habermas has intervened in this debate with a provocative account of the place of religion in the public sphere. Habermas presents his account as an alternative to both the liberal and the revisionist perspectives, and purports to do justice to the legitimate claims of each without falling prey to the failings of either. This article critically analyzes Habermas's interesting proposal and argues that it does not succeed.

Islamic religious education in Belgian state schools: a post-secular perspective

“…Even though Habermas' ideas (for instance his distinction between the religious and the secular; his cognitivist, static view on religion; the rational burden he imposes on religious citizens; and his rather optimistic view on consensus) are not uncontested (e.g. Beckford 2012;Dillon 2012;Calhoun, Mendieta, and VanAntwerpen 2013;Neal 2014), the following paragraphs will show that his ideas about religion in post-secular society, and in particular his concepts of 'reflexive religion' and 'complementary learning processes' can be inspiring for Islamic RE in a secular school system, but also for other RE subjects.…”

User Satisfaction in Urban Parks: Ankara Kugulu Park Case

“…Kent parkları sağlıklı toplumların, sağlıklı bir sosyal ya-şamın ve sağlıklı mekânların oluşturulmasında anahtar bir role sahiptirler. 16 Ayrıca gerekli altyapı yenilemelerinde, atıl alanların canlandırılmasında ve toplumsal ilişkilerin kurulmasında karşılaşılan engellerin çözümü için de önemli alanlar olarak görülmektedir. 17 Yani bir anlamda parklar, kent içindeki ve çevresindeki terkedilmiş ya da yeniden kullanılabilecek boşlukları düzenleyen geometrik metaforlar haline gelmiş, bu da parklara yeni bir anlam yükleyerek onlar için yeni bir gündem tanımlanmasına neden olmuştur.…”