State and religion: a step to post-secularism?

Article deals with recent changes in views on state and religion relations in the legal philosophy of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. While German legal philosopher and former Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde insists on prepolitical foundations of modern state (some of them are related to Western Christianity and Enlightenment), there has always been strong secularist opposition to this view. Jürgen Habermas, one of most influential philosophers of last few decades, is one of them. As a secularist he turned increasingly toward questions on the role of religion in the public sphere. He introduced a concept of post-secular society, where despite high level of secularization still prevail religious interests that have not disappeared and in some regard even increased. Under such impression he argues for the equal inclusion of religious voices in the political public sphere. He rejects radical political secularism and urges for the certain recognition of religious statements for they can contain truth acceptable for all and so they can contribute to the democratic discussion. Such a move in legal thinking is considered as a step aside from original comprehensive secularist views rather than anticipated development of previous doctrines.