05Line · Faith & The Public Sphere
Faith & Reason in the Public Sphere
Let faith speak in public without letting government decide who belongs.
2027–2037A ten-year constitutional project beyond any one election or officeholder.
Faith should be able to speak in public. Government should not decide who belongs.
Disestablishment is not a command to empty public life of conviction, and free exercise is not a license for government to choose a favored faith. Public reason should be broad enough for citizens to bring moral commitments into argument, and disciplined enough that coercive law answers to shared constitutional standards. The test is neither religious rule nor official unbelief. It is a people capable of disagreeing about first things while preserving equal citizenship.
The public sphere test
Conviction may speak. Equal citizenship holds the boundary.Conviction
Conviction may speak.
Public reason
Coercive law needs shared constitutional standards.
Equal citizenship
Belonging does not depend on belief.
Faith Can Speak
Citizens do not leave moral and religious conviction outside public argument.
Government Cannot Choose Belonging
Government does not decide citizenship by favored belief or official unbelief.
Public Reason Needs Standards
Public power still answers to constitutional standards shared across disagreement.
Equal Citizenship Holds The Sphere
People can disagree about first things without making one another lesser citizens.