The Catholic Liberal's Challenge

The present work has three objectives. The first is to show which the basis of the liberal moral duty not to offer certain truths - which reasonable people might not accept given their different religious convictions-as the only justification for exercising political power is. The hypothesis I shall defend is that this basis should be sought in the fact that we share with our fellow citizens one and the same coercive institutional framework. The second objective is to show the apparent scission the satisfaction of this duty produces in Catholics and the threat this implies to a liberal system in which they are a majority. The threat referred to is that Catholics rationalize their religious convictions with the aim of making them appear more apt to justify the exercise of political power. Finally, the third objective is to show a manner of interpreting Liberalism and Catholicism which enables one to appreciate that the apparent scission faced by a Catholic liberal is in fact not one at all. This makes it possible to ward off the threat facing our liberal systems.