约翰?罗尔斯的本科论文《简论罪与信的涵义》，表述了他青年时代对宗教的信仰与理解，同时也揭示了他的政治哲学与宗教伦理学之间的深刻关联。根据《简论罪与信的涵义》、《正义论》和《政治自由主义》之间的起承转合，可以发现宗教在罗尔斯建构政治哲学的过程中以不同方式发挥着重要影响。由于宗教学说的影响，罗尔斯在改造了传统的社会契约论的基础上提出了正义理论；因为认识到自由主义中立性难以解决宗教对政治忠诚和政治团结提出的挑战，罗尔斯试图通过政治自由主义的构想，在保证自由宪政之根本的同时予以宗教妥善的处理。

In his undergraduate thesis, “A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith”, John Rawls expressed his faith and understanding of religion as a young man. This thesis also demonstrates the close connection between his political philosophy and Christian ethics. The relationship among “A Brief Inquiry into the Meaning of Sin and Faith”, A theory of Justice and Political Liberalism shows that religion plays an important role in various ways in his political philosophy. Due to his early religious experience, Rawls reframed the traditional theory of social contract to built up a modern theory of justice. After recognizing the liberal neutrality’s failure to cope with religion’s challenge to political loyalty and political solidarity, Rawls put forward political liberalism to treat religion appropriately under the precondition that the fundamental of free constitution is guaranteed.