Abstract
Can political liberals recognize exemptions from generally applicable laws on religious grounds? This essay argues that despite some initial grounds for skepticism, political liberals can recognize religious accommodations or exemptions in some cases. However, political liberals cannot single out religion for special treatment; when other commitments function in the same way as religiously based commitments, those commitments should enjoy the same status as grounds for exemptions. Also political liberals cannot recognize exemptions or accommodations on any basis from a law that is needed to secure and protect the equal standing of all persons as free and equal citizens. Of course, some cases are complex, as this chapter will show. The essay will close by considering the objection that its view is not administrable-hence practically unworkable-and offering reasons that this worry is unwarranted.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Religious Exemptions |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Pages | 97-119 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780190666187 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2018 |
Keywords
- Exemptions
- Gender equality
- Liberalism
- Political liberalism
- Rawls
- Religion