"Politics," "Religion," and the theory and practice of toleration: The case of William Penn

Abstract

This chapter focuses on two aspects of William Penn's political thought, both as it developed in England and as he sought to implement it in Pennsylvania. The simultaneous insistence that government has no business enforcing religious doctrine and that government must uphold standards of general morality (and even "general and practical religion") complicates the standard story that the origins of secular modernity are to be found in thinkers like Penn and Locke. Whether we look at the theory laid out in England or the practice of politics in Pennsylvania, we find Penn looking to use government to bolster the civic dimensions of religion-its fostering of charity, good works, and neighborliness-while restraining it from meddling with the details of individual and group beliefs.