Między polityką a religią – w poszukiwaniu „złotego środka”

Paweł Tarasiewicz

The author undertakes a problem of the identity of the Western Civilization in respect of a correlation of politics and religion. He traces an outset of theoretical debates about mutual correspondence of politics and religion in the ancient Greece. Following two extreme errors depicted by Sophocles in his “Antigone” and by Plato in his “Defense of Socrates”, he makes inference about a “golden mean” to be necessary in resolving the problem of politics and religion. Then, he examines errors put forward by ancient thinkers to find out reasons of their erroneousness. His investigations show that erroneousness of the correlation consists in endowing politics and religion with a sovereign status in culture. There is always a conflict between politics and religion unless the man regains his own sovereignty from them. Ultimately the author arrives to a conclusion that the “golden mean” of correlation of politics and religion distinctly strengthens the identity of the Western Civilization, and consists in respecting all real and universal parameters of human personal life, such as cognition, freedom (and responsibility), love, agency in law, ontological sovereignty, and religious dignity.