There's more to faith than sex | Cardus: An examination of the individualist ethos of modern liberalism and the pluralist ethos of a Christian paradigm for organizing civil society

"On the individualist model, the overriding goal of the state is to enforce diversity by guaranteeing extensive individual equality rights across the whole of society. The full package of such rights is assertable not only within state institutions but also within any publicly-funded institution, and even – on an extreme version – within every private institution. Diversity is secured by enforcing rights which compel universal respect for particular aspects of individual identity: gender, nationality, sexual orientation and so forth."

"By contrast, the pluralist model holds that the state must not only protect a robust regime of individual equality rights but also underwrite the legitimate autonomy of many independent social institutions – families, schools, religious organisations, trade unions, universities, businesses, cultural associations, and so on. It honours these as arenas in which individuals discover and express many aspects of their diverse goals and identities. It also acknowledges that any of these could choose to be "faith-based" – my local food cooperative in Cambridge is quite openly guided by a biblical vision of trade justice, and pluralists would defend its right to hire only staff who support that ethos."

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There's more to faith than sex | Cardus