Pluralism, Tolerance, and Christian Freedom: Cooperation between Church and State under Constantine the Great and in the European Union
Pluralism, Tolerance, and Christian Freedom: Cooperation between Church and State under Constantine the Great and in the European Union

Summary/Abstract: What space does the European Union's secular endorsement of tolerance and religious pluralism leave for Christian Tradition, freedom and philanthropy? A comparison of Muslim and Christian opportunities of qualifying for social cooperation with the secular state turns on three senses in which the required acceptance of pluralism elicits three kinds of (utilitarian, ontologically grounded, and deontological) tolerance. Christianity's missionary vocation raises questions about Western Christian endorsement of the separation between Church and state, as implied in the principle of religious neutrality. Critics, defenders, and advocates of Constantine the Great and his further teleological “tolerance of prompting” respectively identify and contrast “unequal treatment” with “constraint”, thereby affirming or discounting Christianity's teleological freedom over against secular procedural freedom. The essay concludes by showing that the attempt to preserve the integrity of Orthodox philanthropy by a division between what is “owed God” and “emperor” runs aground on the idol-character of human dignity as affirmed by the European Union.

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