Locke’s church/state demarcation, however persuasive it may have been to 17th century Englishmen and 18th century Americans, seems particularly inapt in helping us resolve Hobby Lobby-type cases. After all, if, as Locke claims, the state’s jurisdiction covers only bodies and properties but not souls, what happens in cases, such as Hobby Lobby, in which the adversarial parties are contesting each other’s understanding of bodies, properties, and souls, which Locke believed in his day were uncontroversial givens?
For the Greens and the Hahns, as for most serious religious believers, how and why they exercise their wills, move their bodies, and use their properties determines the sorts of virtues or vices that are formed in their souls. For this reason, certain theological traditions have over the centuries developed and clarified moral principles by which a believer may judge whether he or she has inappropriately cooperated with an evil act performed by another person.
Read Full Article »