The Paradox of Religious Neutrality

Donald Loose argues that modern western democracies are intrinsically influenced by Christianity, and that secular states therefore have an inherent bias towards Christian values over the values of other religions, as a result. This paper challenges this theory by confronting it with two other positions, specifically Robert Post's account on the clash between freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and Ronald Dworkin's distinction between the tolerant secular state and the tolerant religious state. What this will show, is that the aforementioned bias is both unavoidable and undesirable within current conceptions of democracy and the secular state.