The problem is that such a matrix no longer exists, or at least no longer exists without opposition. That is, classical liberalism sees its governing principle as merely procedural, and in fact neutral. Then it would be the case that the opposition between reason and belief was a false one, and that every situation of contest should be recharacterized as a quarrel between two sets of belief with no possibility of recourse to a mode of deliberation that was not itself an extension of belief. This is in fact my view of the matter . . . . In other words, the vanguard of post-liberals is losing faith in the primacy of reason that made modern democracy possible.
Nobody knows for sure.
The Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution presuppose this philosophical orientation. This is a philosophy alien to and destructive of Christianity, and fortunately it is dying. There is no longer the pretended neutrality and objectivity of Enlightenment rationalism to impede the conflict. Over the past two centuries, Enlightenment liberalism has been able to maintain that it is merely a procedure, a matrix in which true democratic debate can occur. In this volatile social climate, Christians must seize the initiative.