ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the attitudes held by some of the most famous twentieth-century libertarians concerning the role of religion and religious motivation in politics. It sketches the religion-and-politics issues one might have expected to address. There are three such normative issues: the role of religion in democratic discourse, the role of religion with respect to freedom and free exercise, and the role of religion as a guiding principle of government, either via theocracy or weaker forms of religious establishment. Mises's views on religion are confined to the extent to which liberalism and Christianity are compatible and whether Christianity and socialism are compatible. Hayek expressed little animosity to religion or religious belief. Rand was most specific about the role of religion in politics in her two essays attacking the two of the most important Catholic encyclicals in her time, Humanae Vitae and Populorum Progressio, the former widely considered friendly to conservatives and the latter widely considered friendly to progressives and socialists.
