ABSTRACT
Pascal famously said that the heart has reasons of which reason does not know. He was of course primarily thinking of reasons for religious belief and the leading of a religious life, contrasting those reasons with the natural reasoning of the wager. Much modern liberal political theory seeks to exclude distinctively religious beliefs from the public sphere arguing that free and equal citizens in a morally pluralist society must reason from a point of view that does not presume comprehensive religious or metaphysical commitments. In this respect, the principles of liberal political theory echo the practice of modern democracies, which, whatever their other variations, are generally committed to principles of religious toleration and pluralism. Even when there is an established religion, as in England, Scotland or the Scandinavian countries, the civil disadvantages associated with not being a member of the established church are either nugatory or, as with restrictions on marrying in a church that one does not support, seem perfectly reasonable. The same principles of toleration and pluralism are also taken to imply that matters of law or public policy should not to be settled by reference to the specific doctrines of a particular religion, but instead by appeal to considerations and interests that all citizens can share and affirm in their capacity as citizens.
