  The plausibility of the principle of state neutrality remains very much in dispute in contemporary political philosophy. Proponents of the principle maintain that state neutrality is necessary if the state is to respond appropriately to the fact that reasonable citizens in modern democratic societies are committed to conflicting conceptions of the good. They also hold that state neutrality is vital to ensuring stable and mutually beneficial social cooperation in these societies. Those sympathetic to perfectionist politics counter: (1) That support for valuable forms of life requires political action and that strict adherence to the principle of state neutrality “would undermine the chances of survival of many cherished aspects of our culture;” (Raz 1986, 162) (2) That it is possible to reject state neutrality and embrace value pluralism and hold that there are a plurality of good, but incompatible, forms of life fully worthy of respect (Raz 1986); (3) That proponents of state neutrality overvalue the goods associated with agreement and undervalue other goods (Wall 1998); and (4) That state neutrality is neither necessary or sufficient for stable social cooperation and for preventing the abuse of state power (Sher 1997).