With or without religious symbols? Why political liberalism is inconclusive in the case of civil servants

In this article, we scrutinize several arguments that are frequently used to legitimize a ban on religious symbols for civil servants. Most arguments, however, do not stand up to the test of Rawlsian political liberalism. One argument stands out as underpinning such a general ban: state neutrality. While this argument has the most potential, we argue why it is still not decisive for a ban on all religious symbols for all civil servants. We conclude that from a political liberal point of view the discussion is inconclusive, and therefore advocate a context-sensitive and balanced approach to the matter of civil servants’ dress code with respect to religious symbols. By arguing that political liberalism is indecisive, our position is different from both ‘exclusive neutrality’ (political liberalism leads to a conception of neutrality that bans religious symbols) and ‘inclusive neutrality’ (political liberalism leads to a neutrality conception that allows religious symbols).

Publication year:2020

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Open