Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 18:09:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [HAB:]  Beyond tolerance: Accepting the mystery of the other


As the U.S. approached intervention in Iraq, I worked
in detail (Jan. '03) with Habermas's article on
"Intolerance and discrimination," from the
_International Journal of Constitutional Law_ (1:1,
Jan '03), which was uploaded to the "Files" area of
the Yahoo! Habermas site (only available to
subscribers, I believe): 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/habermas/files/JH_Texts/Intolerance.pdf

My HAB list discussion of that is:

"Going beyond tolerance through humanism"
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/spoons/archive_msg.pl?file=habermas.archive/habermas.0301&msgnum=10&start=1305&end=1846

I suppose that most of my discussions aren't read, but
I came across a short passage that I want to
reiterate, if I may:

...I disagree that "a religion that has become just
one among several confessions must abandon [its] claim
to comprehensively shape life" (6). Rather, such a
religion must abandon a *political* aspiration to
dominate, but its comprehensive claim upon its own
community (internally a "reasonable" comprehensive
doctrine) can be quite compatible with humanistic,
even pluralist, appreciation of the necessary
*mystery* of the other. There is an attainable
intimacy of the mystery that can greatly deepen
discernment of the basic human interest [in living
together constructively] *within* religious
experience, revealing a basis for interfaith humanism
that is universalistic. There is abundant evidence for
this in the humanitarian community. One might even
argue that Habermas's generalizing sense of religion
is itself parochial.... 

Aug 1: I haven't read JH's recent article "Religious
Tolerance: the pacemaker of cultural rights"

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/habermas/files/JH_Texts/tolerance.pdf

But in "Intolerance and discrimination," he proffers
that view, that religious tolerance is the pacemaker
of cultural rights, and I disagreed, claiming that
religious tolerance arises from humanistic
appreciation of religious freedom, which in turn
arises from the humanistic nature of religious
experience (which especially pertains to
Christianity's birth in Hellenistic culture). It is
Western humanism that is the basis of religious
tolerance, thus it is humanistic culture—and
humanitarian care—that is the pacemaker of cultural
rights. 

Gary










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