What is often understood today as the principle of religious tolerance, namely the right of every citizen to practise his or her religion freely, only developed gradually and in different forms in Europe and the USA in the course of the 18th century. The Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor coined the term “secular age”. He used it to describe not only the narrow context of religion, but also the state of increasing pluralisation of religious and non-religious possibilities.
What are the consequences of secularisation for the liberal order and the modern constitutional state? What is the role of religious communities in the modern state? How much religion can a modern state “tolerate”? These and other questions were discussed in spring 2014 by 16 international academics, publicists and a politician from various disciplines such as economics, religious studies, theology, history, sociology, law and philosophy.