Abstract
Contemporary liberalism celebrates itself as founded on a deep respect for the unique worth of persons.Though it does not assume any non-naturalistic conception of persons of the sort characteristic of the Judeo-Christian or Kantian traditions, neither does it typically claim to deny such conceptions; in fact liberalism professes a neutrality toward all non-harmful ways of life, including theistic religions, motivated by its respect for persons.I argue that in theory and practice an influential strand of contemporary liberalism both assumes a conception of persons which is Hobbesian in inspiration and manifests Hobbes' hostility toward religion.Few discoveries are more irritating than those which expose the pedigree of ideas.-LordActon l