Posner on the Naked Public Square; Christians and the Crime Rate

Since so many Americans . . . are religious, and religious belief is a showstopper so far as public debate in our society is concerned, it is doubtful that deliberation over fundamental political goals and values is feasible outside our leading universities, the ethos of which is secular.

-From Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy, by UChi Law School Lecturer and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, as quoted by Professor Bainbridge here.

Here's another Posner quote from the Bainbridge post:

And then there's his claim that “[t]he combination in the United States of an extraordinarily high crime rate with an extraordinary degree of allegiance to Christian beliefs must make one question the pacifying effects of Christian zeal." (Sex and Reason at 235-36)

Heartwarming.