Abstract

This thesis offers an interpretation of liberalism that reconciles religious toleration and political equality. It stresses the influence of John Locke's argument for toleration on the recent work of John Rawls, and discusses contemporary problems pertaining to religious freedom, cultural membership, gender equality and the education of children. ;The aim of Chapter One is to stress the starting point of liberal theory, namely that a special warrant is needed to underwrite the power of the state to force citizens to comply with its laws and decrees. I explore Robert Cover's argument that religious communities are entitled to a degree of interpretive authority, and that state courts can recognize the integrity of normative worlds only if principled commitments underlie their use of coercion. ;In Chapters Two and Three I undertake a close reading of Locke's Letter Concerning Toleration. While Locke argues that the liberal state must keep politics separate from religion, his plea for toleration is limited by a sectarian perspective on the nature of religious belief and a failure to recognize freedom of religion as a political right. ;Chapters Four and Five are devoted to Rawl's Political Liberalism. By drawing out the implications of freedom of conscience, Rawls frames the terms for the justification of political power in a manner that is more tolerant of religious diversity than Locke's argument for toleration in the Letter. Moreover, with its emphasis on moral agency and toleration, political liberalism creates the possibility of a reasonable consensus around egalitarian principles of justice. ;Chapter Six explains the role of moral agency in Will Kymlicka's defense of policies of cultural protection. Chapter Seven evaluates Peter Benson's view that special rights for minority cultures should not override the protection of basic liberties. ;Chapter Eight explores issues concerning public education, and argues that the importance of fostering independence of judgement and critical reflection varies according to the cultural contexts children find themselves in. At the same time, the liberal state has a responsibility to educate children into the virtues of citizenship, and can do so without violating the separation of Church and State.