The author suggests that Christian participation in public policy deliberations about bioethical issues may be helped by structures which do not require the search for consensus (or, in particular, the kind of ‘overlapping consensus’ favoured by Rawlsians) on policy. This argument is made, first, by a general discussion of the place of religious visions within public discourse and, second, by an examination of the structure and some of the reports of the President’s Council on Bioethics (USA).