Religion supplies the ultimate sanction against private over public interest

Evidence

For Doria and for Genovesi, who had read Rousseau on the subject, religion should be, as far as was possible without falling into heresy, a civil affair — what Genovesi, so as to avoid the Machiavellian and atheistical implications of the phrase ‘civil religion’, called a ‘rational religion’ (1803: 80); since it is religion, fides as ‘faith’, which provides the ultimate sanction against preferring private interests over public ones. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1802

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Genovesi’s ‘rational religion’ as civil religion without Machiavellian implications, and links fides as faith to sanctioning private-interest behavior.