By contrast, conservatives will contend that there are times when the sacred—agreement with the vertical dimension—should be privileged over the horizontal/human call for justice or equity. Liberals have largely rejected the vertical dimension, folding it into the immanent concerns of justice and equity. For liberals, the metaphysical (“the sacred”) isn’t a category worthy of consideration if real world harm and injustice are at stake. In the end, for the liberal, only justice and equity count as legitimate moral warrants. And as we have discussed, this disagreement about the legitimacy of the
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