The authority of the holy revisited: Habermas, religion, and emancipatory possibilities

This article argues that Jurgen Habermas's view of religion as anathema to rational critical discourse reflects his misunderstanding that religion com prises a monolithic and immutable body of dogma that is closed to reason. I llustrative data from Catholic history and theology and empirical data gath ered from contemporary American Catholics are used to show the weaknesses i n Habermas's negation of the possibility of a self-critical religious disco urse. Specifically, I highlight the doctrinal differentiation within Cathol icism , its longstanding theological emphasis on the coupling of faith and reason, institutional reflexivity, and the doctrinally reflexive reasoning that contemporary Catholics us in negotiating what might appear as "contrad ictory" identities (e.g., being gay or lesbian and Catholic). Although the data presented take issue with Habermas's disavowal of religion the article shows that the practical relevance of doctrinal reasoning at both the inst itutional and the individual level vindicate Habermas's faith in the emanci patory potential of reasoned argumentation to advance participative equalit y.