Recent events in the United States suggest a weakening of robust religious freedom, with religious organisations and institutions facing critical challenges to their freedom in the public square.
The problem is not simply one of a handful of secular voices who want to cleanse the public square of religion per se (or of some religions rather than others). Rather, perhaps a more pernicious problem is a set of modern assumptions that is making the public square conducive to only a certain kind of religion—a heavily privatised kind.
Australian policymakers and citizens need to be aware of how certain notions of religion can be embedded in public policies. Even policies that sound favourable or desirable to religious groups—policies like ‘religious exemptions’—can undermine the authority and public role of those very groups.
Societies, even highly secularised ones, need to safeguard space for robust forms of religion and religious communities in their midst. Such freedom not only protects the integrity of churches and other institutions, but it also frees them to serve the common good in their distinct way.
In the 14th Annual Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom, Ryan Messmore asks what kind of religion is free in the public square and whether we have a strong, public expression of religious belief or a weakened, privatised expression.
