A friendly amendment to Eugene's question is whether anyone on this list subscribes to the philosopher Robert Audi's View that conscientious citizens are required to engage in "epistemic abstinence" by filtering out any arguments even in their own consciousness that depend on religious presuppositions. A more moderate version is (one understanding of) John Rawl's argument that articulated arguments must be made in a "publicly accessible" discourse that rules out reference to inevitable religious arguments that many members of the audience would find "inaccessible."
Sandy -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Volokh, Eugene Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 12:49 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: RE: Can a murderer ever be redeemed? I agree with Sandy that *this* aspect of the redemption inquiry is indeed related to the law of government and religion. (I anticipated this in some measure when I wrote that "we ought to discuss [the redemption question] only to the extent that it touches on the law of government and religion" rather than suggesting that we ought not discuss the question at all.) Yet surely the answer is that it's perfectly legitimate for people to base either their support or opposition to capital punishment on religious justifications, just as it's legitimate for people to base their opposition to murder, slavery, racism, and the like on religious justification. Am I mistaken? Would some on this list argue otherwise? Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanford > Levinson > Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 8:43 PM > To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics > Subject: RE: Can a murderer ever be redeemed? > > > I can understand Eugene's point, but let me try this > response: We spend a lot of time arguing about the extent to which > explicitly theological notions should be allowed to play a part in > political decisionmaking. There are many secular arguments both for > and against capital punishment. > But it seems to me that the "possibility-of-redemption" > argument ultimately sounds, for many people, in a religious > sensibilty. Does that mean that it is illegitimate to base one's > opposition to capital punishment on it (or, for that matter, a > literal, albeit debatable, reading of "Thou Shalt Not Kill"), or, > conversely, that it is illegitimate to base one's support for capital > punishment on a biblical notion of "eye-for-an-eye" retribution? > > sandy > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Volokh, > Eugene > Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 11:23 PM > To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics > Subject: RE: Can a murderer ever be redeemed? > > Folks: This is an interesting question, but it seems to me that on > this list we ought to discuss it only to the extent that it touches on > the law of government and religion. (What religious people should > think about death penalty law wouldn't, I think, quite qualify.) > > Eugene > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, > unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as > private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are > posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can > (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, > unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as > private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are > posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can > (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. > _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
