Pluralism and Freedom

Faith-Based Organizations in a Democratic Society

By (author) Stephen V. Monsma

Publication date:

09 December 2011

Length of book:

238 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442214309

Faith-based organizations play a major role in providing a host of health, educational, and social services to the public. Nearly all these efforts, however, have been accompanied by intense debate and numerous legal challenges. The right of faith-based organizations to hire based on religion, the presence of religious symbols and icons in rooms where government-subsidized services are provided, and the enforcement of gay civil rights to which some faith-based organizations object all continue to be subjects of intense debate and numerous court cases. In Pluralism and Freedom, Stephen V. Monsma explores the question of how much autonomy should faith-based organizations retain when they enter the public realm? He contends that pluralism and freedom demand their religious freedom be respected, but that freedom of all religious traditions and of the general public and secular groups be equally respected, ideals that neither the left nor the right live up to. In response, Monsma argues that democratic pluralism requires a genuine, authentic—but also a limited—autonomy for faith-based organizations providing public services, and offers practical, concrete public policy applications of this framework in practice.

Preface
Chapter 1: The Issue that Will Not Go Away
Diversity, Pluralism, and Autonomy
Two Sets of Questions
A Conflict of Theoretical Concepts
The Plan of the Book
Chapter 2: Faith-Based Organizations and the Network of Human Services
Faith-Based Organizations in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
International Emergency Relief and Long-Term Development
Faith-Based Organizations in International Relief and Development
The Added Value of Faith-Based and Other Nongovernmental Organizations.
The Role of Faith in Faith-Based Organizations.
Adoption and Foster Care Services
Faith-Based Organizations in Adoption and Foster Care Services
The Added Value of Faith-Based Organizations.
The Role of Faith in Faith-Based Organizations.
The Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative (MPRI)
Faith-Based Organizations in the MPRI.
The Added Value of Faith-Based Organizations
The Role of Faith in Faith-Based Organizations.
Conclusions
Chapter 3: The Seedbeds of Attitudes towards Faith-Based Organizations
The Liberal Enlightenment, the Founding Era, and the Young Nation
The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment in Europe
The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment and the American Founders
Religion in the Founding Era and the Young Nation
The Legacy of the Founding Era and the Young Nation
The Supreme Court, Church-State Relations, and Faith-Based Organizations
The Strict Separation, No-Aid-to-Religion Standard
The Equal Treatment, Neutrality Standard
The Accommodationist Standard
The Continuing Strength of the Strict Separation, No-Aid-to-Religion Standard
The Inadequacy of the Strict Separation, No-Aid-to-Religion Standard
The Supreme Court and Freedom of Association
Summary
Nondiscrimination Measures and Faith-Based Organizations
The 1960s Nondiscrimination Civil Rights Laws
The Legacy of Nondiscrimination Laws
Conclusions
Chapter 4: The Partisan-Political Landscape Today
Faith-Based Organizations and the Left
The Left’s Mindset towards Faith-Based Organizations in the Public Realm
Applications of the Left’s Mindset towards Faith-Based Organizations in the Public Realm
Faith-Based Organizations and the Right
The Right’s Mindset towards Faith-Based Organizations in the Public Realm
Applications of the Right’s Mindset towards Faith-Based Organizations in the Public Realm
Chapter 5: Structural Pluralism in Christian Democratic Thought
Religious Freedom in the Context of Church-State Separation
Structural Pluralism and Christian Democracy
Origins in Nineteenth Century Events and Political Currents
Personalism
The Pluralism of Structural Pluralism
Subsidiarity in Roman Catholic Social Thought.
Sphere Sovereignty in Dutch neo-Calvinist Thought.
Common Ground between Catholics and Protestants:
Contemporary Structural Pluralism
Structural Pluralism and the American Polity.
Chapter 6: Faith-Based Organizations a Pluralistic Public Square: Applications
Three Basic Perspectives
A Respect for Religion and Its Role in the Public Policy World
Faith-Based Organizations Possess Religious Freedom and Autonomy Rights
Substantive Religious Neutrality as the Key to Freedom of Religion
Specific Issues: Government Funds and Religious Hiring Rights
Structural Pluralism’s Answer
Objections to the Structural Pluralist Position
Specific Issues: Religious Elements in Government Subsidized Services
Structural Pluralism’s Answer
Objections to the Structural Pluralist Position
Specific Issues: Nondiscrimination and Hiring and Membership Standards
Structural Pluralism’s Answer
Objections to the Structural Pluralist Position
Specific Issues: Requiring Faith-Based Organizations to Provide Services They Find Religiously Objectionable
Structural Pluralism’s Answer
Objections to the Structural Pluralist Position
Bibliography

In this book Monsma (emer., Pepperdine Univ.) examines the contentious issue of the proper place of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in the public square in the US through the important lenses of freedom, pluralism, tolerance, and diversity. In particular, Monsma wants to determine how much religious autonomy FBOs should legally retain when entering into the public sphere, and how much religious diversity and pluralism should be willingly accepted in the public realm. Monsma correctly asserts that answering these questions is crucial given the large role that FBOs play in critical areas of US public life, and also convincingly argues that current thinking across the ideological spectrum is of little use in providing usable answers. In his attempt to address this dilemma, Monsma turns to western Europe, specifically to the Roman Catholic teaching of subsidiarity, the neo-Calvinist idea of sphere sovereignty, and the tradition of Christian Democracy to flesh out a solution he labels structural pluralism. Structural pluralism reserves an important place in the public realm for all intermediary institutions, religious and nonreligious alike. All will not agree with Monsma's take here, but all will benefit from considering his ideas. Summing Up: Highly recommended.