The Invisible Border: The Vanishing Line of Separation Between Church and State (Robert Yelle)

Secular liberalism requires a separation of church and state, so as to guarantee both the security of the polity and religious freedom. However, where to draw the line between religion and politics remains the subject of debate, with a growing number who claim it is not possible, and may not even be desirable, to do so. This problem is hardly new. As Robert Yelle recounts, it has roots in the early modern period, when the foundations of the liberal, secular constitution were laid by such figures as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in England. Where Hobbes argued for a state church and a civil religion, Locke argued for a stricter division of labor between church and state, reprising older formulas from Christian theology. Revisiting this history sheds light on our current predicament.

This episode is a cooperation between TheoPodcast and the Catholic Academy in Berlin.