AN UNSTEADY ‘WALL OF SEPARATION’: A FEW CONSIDERATIONS
AN UNSTEADY ‘WALL OF SEPARATION’: A FEW CONSIDERATIONS

Summary/Abstract: This is a polemical essay concerning the ‘wall of separation’ between church and state in the United States of America. The author observes that there is a political struggle between defenders of religion, primarily Christians, on the one hand, and secularists on the other. Typical reasons given by secularists for the separation between church and state, and/or religion and politics, are historical, constitutional, and cultural. The author vigorously argues that these reasons are doubtful and unconvincing. More significant than any of these, however, is the idea that ‘faith’ is cognitively inferior to ‘knowledge’ and therefore has no place in public discourse. The author explores in further detail the putative epistemological distinctions between faith and knowledge, and contends that these too are far from convincing.

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