Why Religion and Liberalism Should Be Allies, Not Enemies

In a wide-ranging defense of the liberal tradition broadly defined—that is, the various approaches to politics that see government as the protector of freedom and that are associated with such thinkers as John Locke, James Madison, and Edmund Burke—Peter Berkowitz addresses a few of the recent attacks on this tradition. Among these is the claim by some religious conservatives that liberalism is inherently corrosive to religion and even to virtue itself. To the contrary, argues Berkowitz: while freedom and virtue are always in tension, the best of liberal thought has always recognized the importance, if not the necessity, of religion for the wellbeing of a democratic polity. (Interview by William Kristol. Video, 25 minutes.)