Hayek valued religion pragmatically for securing submission to market order

Evidence

Hayek’s own approach to religion was pragmatic; he believed ‘most people need it’ because religion fosters submission to the principles and traditions on which civilisation depends. This focus on securing submission provided a bridge between neoliberal defences of the market and Catholic anti-totalitarianism. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 356

Categorization

• XREF: Relevant to the ‘Submission’ angle in the reader’s ongoing exploration of how market liberalism tolerates non-liberal institutions as functional supports — connects to literature on market populism and authoritarian liberalism. — connects to: Hayek courted Christians as necessary allies for liberalism — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 354; Hayek held that free markets require a moral culture of personal responsibility to survive — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 23; Hayek feared moral and religious decline could destroy market civilization (+5 more)
• SEED: Angle: the functional defense of religion in neoliberal thought — how the market order depends on extra-market sources of submission, when seen through Hayek’s pragmatism.

Broader Connections

• Hayek’s market-morals argument drew on explicitly ethical justifications of capitalism. #complicates (0.78) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 491