What is meant
What is meant is that religion does not stand on forcing people, materially or morally, to adopt it or adhere to it. Thus, faith in this conception becomes a free choice, because coercion is negated from it.
The Atom’s Structure in the Atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: religion is based on choice, not coercion.
- Key terms: coercion, religion, choice, freedom.
- Degree of centrality: primary.
It states that religiosity is not valid under compulsion, making freedom a prior condition for the validity of religious affiliation and the practice of doctrinal or practical commitment.
Reading links
- Muhammad Shahrur: Drying Up the Sources of Terrorism
- Freedom, Human Beings, and Responsibility
- Freedom
Basis
- Supporting text: «Coercion: material or moral compulsion, and it is negated in religion».
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom is based on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of the reading: the wording above is an analytical summary, and is not treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger conclusion in the chapter or prepares for it.
Editorial note
A foundational atom in constructing the author’s concept of religious freedom.