ABSTRACT
Culture affects character formation, and the state depends on the character of citizens and public officials to restrain self-interest and passion and to prevent toleration and skepticism from degenerating into cultural anarchy. Liberal society thinks easily of virtue and character in private terms. When the claims of political order are taken too seriously and when the gospel becomes comfortable, prudence shades into civil religion. A signal of a new openness to virtue language is the growing advocacy in political theory of virtue and character as foundations to reform or replace liberalism. The theoretical dichotomy between politics and private character is now just as questionable as the dichotomy between public and private life. The tension inherent in dialogue at the border of religion and politics calls for qualities of character properly associated with virtue. Attention to the unique voices of other participants is more valuable than reasoning in politics or knowledge of dogma in religion.
