A Rhetorician\u27s View of Religious Speech in Civic Argument

I first examine and reject liberal political methods of addressing the question of religious speech in civic argument, all of which depend upon norms external to the argument that are then excluded from it. Next, in proposing a method that relies only upon the constitutive norms of civic argument itself, I offer a description of civic argument as rhetoric, examine the risks of religious rhetoric in this civic argument, and examine the constitutive norms of civic argument. I address whether the constitutive norms of civic argument are sufficient restraints upon religious rhetoric such that reliance upon external norms is not only not required but cannot be justified in a democracy. Finally, I conclude with a brief assessment of the tension between religion and the constitutive requirements of civic argument in a democracy