The State’s Mission Is to Protect Choices, Not to Guide

Editorial verification status: This atom has been extracted from an explanatory audiovisual source, and has now been linked to the closest books within Shahrur’s project at the book level. For precise academic quotation, consult the original book and the original episode together.

Formulation of the claim

Shahrur holds that the function of the state is not to bring people into paradise or keep them out of hell, but to respect their choices and protect them.

Explanation

Shahrur criticizes the notion of the state as preacher or jurist, and says that the state has no function of religious salvation. Its function is to regulate people’s lives and defend their choices so that they do not wrong one another. Therefore, the state is responsible for protecting public freedom, not for imposing religiosity or producing virtue by coercion. He places this within his definition of the civil state.

Its place in the episode’s argument

This atom gives a functional definition of the civil state in contrast to the theocratic state.

Limits of the claim

The idea does not say that the state is morally neutral in an absolute sense, but rather that it does not turn into an institution of religious salvation.

The State’s Mission Is to Protect Choices, Not to Guide