A THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL XLIV 2002 Published by the Protestant ...

TONY CARROLL SJ
arguments and points of view from being heard. The ëdemocratically
enlightened common senseí is a form of referee who ensures that the
exchange of ideas between the state and religions is carried out under
the rules of ëfair playí. 28 However, in order for religions to play their
part in the formation of public opinion, Habermas suggests that they
must disavow violence as a means for expressing their religious views
and also they need to subscribe to three basic principles which would
constitute a basis for democratic potential in a religion. The first is
the serious reflection on the truth claims of other religions, or in other
words, the commitment to inter-religious dialogue as a form of democratic
approach. Second, the recognition of the validity of social science
descriptions of modern society. Third, the recognition of the
legitimacy of the secular basis of the modern constitutional state.
When these three basic characteristics are accepted by religions then,
according to Habermas, they are potentially capable of contributing
to the democratic debate in a constructive manner.
These fundamental characteristics can be considered to be basic
rules of the game, so to speak, for a post-secular society. Both sides,
that is to say, the secular-scientific and the religious points of view,
need to respect these rules of exchange and this is something which
should be mediated by the democratically enlightened common sense
of the public sphere. Habermas mentions the current debate occurring
about genetic manipulation as an example of where this debate is
most urgent and should not simply be left to scientific experts to
decide but rather, through fair assessment of the democratic exchange
of the arguments of all sides, should be decided by the democratic
public sphere. In this context, secularisation no longer means the
disappearance of religion but rather the liberation of the public sphere
from the undemocratic control of religion. Society, here, is described
as post-traditional in that it is based on positive law and democratic
principles which derive from a number of different sources and not
28 The idea of democratically enlightened common sense draws on the conception
of the public sphere that Habermas developed in his earlier work such as the Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere, originally published in†1962. It is essentially
a regulative principle, that is to say, a normative basis for modern democratic
societies. In acting as a normative basis it can be used critically to intervene in
inappropriate, and that means undemocratic for Habermas, interventions in the public
sphere.
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