Political Philosophy

Freedom Of Religion? Let's Not Get Carried Away

John Holbo at the Crooked Timber blog notices something funny while rereading Liberty, Equality, Fraternity by the great critic of John Stuart Mill, James Fitzjames Stephen. (Virginia Woolf's uncle, by the way.)

Stephens is obviously the ‘conservative’, rebutting Mill, the ‘liberal’. But in a lot of ways their positions don’t track contemporary notions. For example, Stephens is very opposed to the state tolerating lots of little heterodox churches. No. The state should do its best to figure out which one is best and sponsor it. (Theological spin on industrial policy and ‘picking winners’.) The proof, offered in passing: anything else and you’ll end up having to tolerate Mormonism. Which is obviously not on.

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David Frum

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