The recognition of religious discourse, public sphere and contribution to fundamental rights from Habermas

Abstract

The present essay, with a methodology of reconstructive philosophical research, based on the thought of Jürgen Habermas, aims to contribute to the revitalization of a critical public sphere by retaking the contribution of religious thought and its sensitivity to failures in social organization that threaten the dignity of the human being. It seeks to answer the following question: How can religious discourse contribute to the reconstruction of the critical public sphere and the promotion of fundamental rights? It presents the concept of critical public sphere, in order to insert in it a post-secular society perspective the role of the contribution of religious discourse. It exposes the normative conditions necessary for the participation of believing and non-believing citizens. It presents the nexus of religious thought with the formation and affirmation of the concept of human dignity, its links with fundamental rights and the ideals of freedom equality and fraternity. It criticizes the apparatus of religious thought, through a political theology that affirms a “religious fascism”. It concludes by the possibility of the contribution of religion and of a political theology in the reconstruction and resumption of the critical public sphere for the reconstruction of the democratic State of law, on condition that it retakes its own foundations and remains open to universal dialogue and its normative conditions.