Everyday philosophy

Everyone is equal before the law—almost. Britain’s first Asian judge Mota Singh suggested in February that it could be discrimination to prevent young Sikhs wearing their ceremonial kirpans to school, despite a general ban on carrying daggers. The Pope, limbering up for a tussle with liberalism when he visits Britain in September, exhorted Catholic bishops to oppose “with missionary zeal” a tightening of equality laws that would have required religious organisations to stop discrimination against gay and transgender candidates for jobs.

Enforced equality invariably curbs liberties. But are there any philosophical grounds for exceptions? Immanuel Kant believed that one must scrutinise the principles governing one’s actions as though they were universal laws. And he’s surely right about this: “What if everyone did that?” is the key question. What if all children were allowed to carry ceremonial daggers? What if all employers were allowed to discriminate against gay candidates? Some people will bite these bullets and say “no problem.” That, at least, will get the issues out in the open.

But is there something special about religion that grants it privilege to trump local law from time to time? Søren Kierkegaard invoked the “teleological suspension of the ethical”—that is, ditching ethics and even legality for the sake of something higher. In special circumstances—on those occasions when God asks you to sacrifice your only son, for example (daggers again)— it may be best to ignore conventional morality. But that’s a risky strategy. Could the inner voice that booms with such conviction be a psychiatric symptom rather than divine instruction? That was Abraham’s anguish.

Perhaps because people think and feel so deeply about it, it is often assumed that there is something special about religion that should remain immune to worldly considerations. Yet religious affiliation guarantees nothing, as the parable of the predatory priests demonstrates. The moral: it’s probably best not to do religion when you’re doing law. And an early heads up for the Pope: it’s probably best not to do law when you’re doing religion either.