Research
I work in the areas of public law and political theory, with particular focus on the dynamics of religion in liberal politics. My first book developed an account of political stability as a normative basis for political liberalism in conditions of religious pluralism. Additionally, I am working on projects concerning the expressive dimensions of religious accommodation, compromise in law and religion, and symbolic establishments of religion. I also write on the life and work of 20th-century monk and social critic Thomas Merton.
For a full list of my publications, see my CV.
BOOK: Religious Pluralism and Political Stability: Obligations in Agreement (Routledge, 2022). (Link to publisher’s website.)
Conflicts between law and religion strain citizens’ commitment to their political order, as their religious and political loyalties are forced into competition. As a consequence, the stability of the political order — its capacity to endure with the support of the people who live under it — is weakened. A genuinely stable political system, then, must strive to align the obligations of citizenship with citizens’ religious and moral obligations. I argue that only a political system enacting the principles at the core of political liberalism – liberty, equality, and neutrality – can achieve this alignment in a context of robust pluralism. Political liberalism is, therefore, a necessary condition for political stability. The book illustrates the implications of this conclusion by examining contemporary legal debates in law and religion.
Religious Pluralism and Political Stability calls for a reprioritization of stability in both liberal political theory and U.S. constitutional discourse, and shows that political systems need not subordinate or sacrifice important liberal priorities in favor of stability. Rather, those liberal priorities are themselves necessary components of a stable order.