Jodok Troy

What happens if a liberal philosopher writes a book about religion and the public life? He will speak out and argue for a rigid secularism, placing religion and faith with- in the private sphere. That might be true in most of the cases but it is not the whole truth. Rather, an origin liberal–and this is Austin Dacey–would argue that secularism must be uphold but not in the widely perceived fashion of banning religious conscience to the private sphere. In terms of liberal thought, secularism does not and should not privatize conscience. Why this is the case and why secular liberals did not loose their moral compass but gave it away is the attempt Austin Dacey sets out to answer in The Secular Conscience: Why Belief Belongs in Public Life.  Dacey is a writer and human rights advocate in New York City. His pieces appeared in renowned periodicals such as the USA Today or the New York Times. According to the latter his book The Secular Conscience “lifted quite a few eyebrows” and embraced by figures as diverse as Sam Harris and Richard John Neuhaus.The United Nations representative for the Center of Inquiry helped to organize the Secular Islam Summit and spoke before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.