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Religious faith and social justice: on Hägglund’s incompatibility thesis
Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences, Political Science.
2023 (English)In: Politics, Religion & Ideology, ISSN 2156-7689, E-ISSN 2156-7697, Vol. 24, no 4, p. 586-607Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Is religious faith necessarily a barrier to the achievement of a just society? In This Life, Martin Hägglund answers ‘yes’, defending a form of political atheism based on the claim that a wholehearted commitment to social justice presupposes the recognition of humans as altogether finite, mortal beings. Hägglund’s thorough contribution offers a useful entry point for exploring widely perceived—but seldom articulated—obstacles to more conciliatory approaches for seeking radical social change. In this article I unpack and reject what I call Hägglund’s incompatibility thesis on religious faith and social justice. I argue that it ultimately rests on false oppositions that present no insurmountable obstacles to firm coalitions for social activism across secular and religious worldviews. While Hägglund’s arguments raise relevant questions and challenges for some theological views, his global rejection of theistic faith from coalitions for social justice turns out to be (1) unnecessary, (2) illiberal, and (3) counterproductive. Considering the possibilities and hindrances for stable alliances for liberal equality across groups, I contend that political philosophy and social justice activism cannot afford to cut off or alienate theistic believers from egalitarian political struggles.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2023. Vol. 24, no 4, p. 586-607
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies) Philosophy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-52781DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2023.2287582ISI: 001108751900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85178229703OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-52781DiVA, id: diva2:1815354
Available from: 2023-11-28 Created: 2023-11-28 Last updated: 2025-10-07Bibliographically approved

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Birnbaum, Simon

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CiteExportLink to record
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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf