Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

English abstract: The article is devoted to the question of the presence of religious argumentation in the public sphere. The crucial problem is whether the religious argument should be completely accepted in the public discussion as sufficient basis for e.g. law-making or not, and – if so – what are necessary conditions of the presence of such factor. The author writes about course and results of the debate on pointed issue which has started in The United States in the late 80s of XX century. He also wonders why issues which are rather obvious for the great majority of other liberal and democratic countries involves such emotional discussions in American humanities. One of the author’s observations is that historical examples neither with the positive or negative influence of religion on social life are too weak ground for building any position to the considered problem. In the last part of the article, the philosophical conclusions are compared with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in regards to the freedom of religion.

Keywords: religious argumentation, public sphere, religious freedom, state neutrality, Robert Audi, civic participation

Language: Polish

Received: 05.10.2016
Accepted: 18.02.2017

Published: Number 2(15)/2017, pp. 38-48.

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