A Christian Approach to Corporate Religious Liberty

This book addresses one of the most urgent issues in contemporary American lawnamely, the logic and limits of extending free exercise rights to corporate entities. Pointing to the polarization that surrounds disputes like Burwell v. Hobby Lobby , David argues that such cases need not involve pitting flesh-and-blood individuals against the rights of so-called corporate moral persons. Instead, David proposes that such disputes should be resolved by attending to the moral quality of group actions. This approach shifts attention away from polarizing rights-talk and towards the virtues required for thriving civic communities. More radically, however, this approach suggests that groups themselves should not be viewed as things or persons in the first instance, but rather as occasions of coordinated activity. Discerned in the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, this reconceptualization helps illuminate the moral stakes of a noveland controversialform of religious freedom.

Draws upon Christian ethical and group-ontological thought to argue that corporate religious liberty rights should apply to group actions Helps to navigate competing moral claims of both groups and vulnerable third-parties within an increasingly polarized political environment Explores how the Church might positively influence moral discourse over corporate religious freedoms.

Auteur

Edward A. David is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, UK.

Résumé
"An important strength of the book is its sensitive comparison of Catholic and Protestant articulations of the freedom of the church ... . David's book offers a number of starting points for the development of a cogent Protestant social theology on the question of religious liberty, and on many other questions as well ... . It would be rewarding to see some of that energy devoted to the ideas about Protestant distinctives that David so ably notes." (Allen Calhoun, Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol. 35 (2), May, 2022)

Contenu

1. The Ethics of Corporate Religious Liberty.- 2. Corporate Religious Liberty in Church Teachings.- 3. Group Ontology and Skeptical Arguments.- 4. A Modest Account of Corporate Religious Liberty.- 5. Political Liberal and Theological Contentions.- 6. Integrating the Strong Group Agency of the Church.- From Group Ontology to Christian Moral Reasoning.