Secular mentalities and religion in the thought of Jürgen Habermas
ENIn every historical period, religion invigorates human faith, morality and dignity; for "God has not called us to immorality but to holiness" (1 Tues 4, 7). The majority of the contemporary participants of public philosophical discourses, including Jurgen Habermas in his Glauben und Wissen, compare the tragedy of September 11, 2001 with Biblical events; for the perpetrators of the atrocity acted in a name of God. This fact, according to Habermas, increased vibration of the string of religion in the secularized society: people rushed to synagogues, churches and mosques to pray. But, on the other hand, Habermas observes that "In spite of its religious language, fundamentalism is an exclusively modern phenomenon and, therefore, not only a problem of others". He believes that one of the most important causes of fundamentalism is swift cultural modernization of Muslim countries, perceived by their population as an assault on human nature, religious and national identity. Habermas thinks that humiliation of human dignity, which changes human mentality and requires separation of state and religion, plays the leading role in the formation of fundamentalism. Therefore, according to him, it is necessary to understand what secularization means in our postsecular societies. Pursuing this end, Habermas reinterprets the problem of faith and knowledge, paying attention to Immanuel Kant's (1724-1804) attempt of transferring the radical evil from Biblical text into the limits of reason alone.Kant claims: "for a religion that unhesitatingly declares war on reason will not persevere against it in the long run". But this Kantian approach does not persuade Habermas. He thinks: "The unrestrained way in which this biblical heritage is once more dealt with today shows that we still lack an adequate concept for the semantic difference between what is morally wrong and what is profoundly evil"4 • He says that devil does not exist but, nevertheless, "the fallen archangel stil wreaks havoc - in the perverted good of the monstrous deed, but also in the unrestrained urge for retaliation that promptly follows". The secularized modern languages frequently distort real meaning of the past events and cause misunderstanding between generations. For instance, sin, treated as guilt, takes away something important from God's commandments, and is treated as transgression of human law. The neglecting of natural law causes contradictory assessments and subjective feelings.
