Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

While there remains discussion regarding what a ‘separation of church and state’ means in practice, that the principle is and has been part of American political culture and the United States Supreme Court jurisprudence for at least two centuries is beyond dispute. In this paper, we argue that the narratives behind the ‘separation’ are akin to a Lockean “language-game”. Hierarchical and egalitarian language-games adapt to and coexist in practice within the context of the classical (Lockean) language-game, and the competition among them produces positive results for our community of interest by ensuring that liberty is preserved against both oppression and disorder. Religious language-games are reflective of the hierarchical aspects of the American shared community of interest. We argue that such games, whether they are related to the aforementioned “separation” or used independently to influence politics and public policy - as in the various ways that the religious, anti-abortion camp employs them - are in conflict with and unbalanced by the egalitarian and Lockean language-games. We treat commonly used rhetoric in both the ‘separation of church and state’ ideological domain as well as other instances related to the incorporation of religious doctrine and dogma into public policy through the Lockean language-game lens. We analyze and explicate the ascendancy of religious language-games in United States public policy domains both broadly and also specifically with regards to the concept of a ‘separation of church and state’.