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Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty: "... when people talk about 'religious liberalism,' they are normally referring to a commitment to a certain kind of conception of what religion is and, accordingly, of how religious attitudes, institutions, and communities should be developed or reshaped so as to accommodate and promote particular forms of personal and group freedom." and rationality.: "... religious liberalism came to be so concerned with respect for reason, reasonableness, and rationality ... ." It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position, and as opposed to criticism of a religion other than one's own) which contrasts with a traditionalist or Orthodoxy approach, and it is directly opposed by trends of religious fundamentalism. It is related to religious liberty, which is the tolerance of different religious beliefs and practices, but not all promoters of religious liberty are in favor of religious liberalism, and vice versa.: "However, given the way in which terminology has evolved, we must be careful not to assume too close an association between 'religious liberty' and 'religious liberalism.' Many people who think that religious liberty is basically a good thing that ought to be promoted do not wish to be regarded as advocates of religious liberalism; some of them even feel that many of those who call themselves 'religious liberals' are enemies of religious liberty, or at least end up undermining religious liberty in the process of promoting their own special brand of 'liberal religion.' ... One notable problem here is that, when liberalism is considered in relation to religion, one may be thinking primarily of a certain 'liberal' conception of religion itself (in contrast with, say, orthodox, conservative, traditionalist, or fundamentalist conceptions) or one may be thinking more of a 'liberal' political view of the value of religious liberty. But, when people talk about 'religious liberalism,' they are usually thinking of the former more than the latter, although they may uncritically assume that the two necessarily accompany one another."
Usage of the term liberal in the context of religious philosophy appeared as early as the mid-19th century and became established by the first part of the 20th century; for example, in 1936, philosophy professor and Disciples of Christ minister Edward Scribner Ames wrote in his article "Liberalism in Religion":
Religious traditionalists, who reject the idea that tenets of modernity should have any impact on religious tradition, challenge the concept of religious liberalism. Secularism, who reject the idea that implementation of rationalistic or critical thought leaves any room for religion altogether, likewise dispute religious liberalism.
The Catholic Church in particular has a long tradition of controversy regarding questions of religious liberalism. Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801–1890), for example, was considered to be moderately liberal by 19th-century standards because he was critical of papal infallibility, but he explicitly opposed "liberalism in religion" because he argued it would lead to complete relativism."Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another…", J. H. Newman 'Biglietto Speech' http://www.newmanreader.org/works/addresses/file2.html
The conservative Presbyterian biblical scholar J. Gresham Machen criticized what he termed "naturalistic liberalism" in his 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism, in which he intended to show that "despite the liberal use of traditional phraseology modern liberalism not only is a different religion from Christianity but belongs in a totally different class of religions".Machen asserted that "If the Jesus of naturalistic reconstruction were really taken as an example, disaster would soon follow. As a matter of fact, however, the modern liberal does not really take as his example the Jesus of the liberal historians; what he really does in practice is to manufacture as his example a simple exponent of a non-doctrinal religion whom the abler historians even of his own school know never to have existed except in the imagination of modern men." The Anglican Christian apologist C. S. Lewis voiced a similar view in the mid-20th century, arguing that "theology of the liberal type" amounted to a complete re-invention of Christianity and a rejection of Christianity as understood by its own founders. (From an essay titled "Modern theology and biblical criticism" written in 1959.)
The methodologies of liberal or progressive Islam rest on the interpretation of traditional Islamic scripture (the Quran) and other texts (such as the Hadith), a process called ijtihad. This can vary from the slight to the most liberal, where only the meaning of the Quran is considered to be a revelation, with its expression in words seen as the work of Muhammad in his particular time and context.
Liberal Muslims see themselves as returning to the principles of the early ummah ethical and pluralistic intent of the Quran. They distance themselves from some traditional and less liberal interpretations of Islamic law which they regard as culturally based and without universal applicability. The reform movement uses Tawhid (monotheism) "as an organizing principle for human society and the basis of religious knowledge, history, metaphysics, aesthetics, and ethics, as well as social, economic and world order".
Islamic Modernism has been described as "the first Muslim ideological response to the Western cultural challenge" attempting to reconcile Islamic faith with modern values such as nationalism, democracy, civil rights, rationality, Egalitarianism, and Social progress. (2025). 9780028662695, Macmillan Reference, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. ISBN 9780028662695 It featured a "critical reexamination of the classical conceptions and methods of jurisprudence" and a new approach to Islamic theology and Tafsir.
It was the first of several Islamic movements—including secularism, Islamism, and Salafi movement—that emerged in the middle of the 19th century in reaction to the rapid changes of the time, especially the perceived onslaught of Western culture and colonialism on the Muslim world. Founders include Muhammad Abduh, a Sheikh of Al-Azhar University for a brief period before his death in 1905, Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, and Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1935).
The early Islamic modernists (al-Afghani and Muhammad Abdu) used the term salafiyya to refer to their attempt at renovation of Islamic thought, and this salafiyya movement is often known in the West as "Islamic modernism," although it is very different from what is currently called the Salafi movement, which generally signifies "ideologies such as wahhabism". According to Malise Ruthven, Islamic modernism suffered since its inception from co-option of its original reformism by both secularist rulers and by "the official ulama" whose "task it is to legitimise" rulers' actions in religious terms.
Examples of liberal movements within Islam are Progressive British Muslims (formed following the 2005 London terrorist attacks, defunct by 2012), British Muslims for Secular Democracy (formed 2006), or Muslims for Progressive Values (formed 2007).
In eastern religions
Eastern religions were not immediately affected by liberalism and Enlightenment philosophy, and have partly undertaken reform movements only after contact with Western philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus Hindu reform movements emerged in British India in the 19th century. Buddhist modernism (or "New Buddhism") arose in its Japanese form as a reaction to the Meiji Restoration, and was again transformed outside of Japan in the 20th century, notably giving rise to modern Zen Buddhism.
Liberal religion in Unitarianism
The term liberal religion has been used by Unitarianism,For example: as well as Unitarian Universalists,For example: Cf. to refer to their own brand of religious liberalism; the term has also been used by non-Unitarians, such as Quakers.For example, on Quakerism as liberal religion: (2025). 9781847185655, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781847185655 And on Islam as liberal religion: The Journal of Liberal Religion was published by the Unitarian Ministerial Union, Meadville Theological School, and Universalist Ministerial Association from 1939 to 1949, and was edited by James Luther Adams, an influential Unitarian theologian. "The Journal of Liberal Religion". worldcat.org. Retrieved 2017-11-20. Published from 1939 to 1949. Fifty years later, a new version of the journal was published in an online format from 1999 to 2009. Published from 1999 to 2009.
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