Does the Church support religious freedom?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guilherme123
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Fr. Brian Harrison has written some good analyses on religious freedom and Vatican II as far as tradition goes.
 
I think it’s fair to say the Church’s endorsement of religious freedom has always been inversely proportional to its temporal power.
 
Well the Catholic Church has never condoned conversion by the sword. Though some of early conversion of particularly the “Barbaric tribes” that conquered Europe was forced but not by the Church but by their rulers.
Sort of, If the King converts to Catholicism so are all his subjects.
Again the Church did not have a saying in all of this and it is a historical fact.
New Christians were normally acquired through the process of catechumenate, by learning the faith and taking a personal decision without coercion.
This then informs us that the Church will tolerate other religions to exist and it has had to do since its beginning. It is a plain fact. Read the letters of Paul as proof.
Peace!
 
TheLittleLady said:
https://www.usccb.org/committees/religious-liberty

This is the US Bishop’s answer
Click to expand...
The Church supports religious freedom in USA largely because it works to our advantage here in a big way. Catholics in the USA were originally a persecuted minority, and as numbers grew they were still persecuted because the religion was associated with poor immigrants and other groups of lower social status. Religious freedom laws are how the Church even managed to survive and get a good foothold here in the States.

I’m pretty sure that in countries where the Church is historically the entrenched powerful religion pulling the strings, it’s not so quick to hop on the bandwagon of religious freedom even today - and of course, it was much less tolerant of other religions through many centuries of its history.
 
Last edited:
JerryZ said:
New Christians were normally acquired through the process of catechumenate, by learning the faith and taking a personal decision without coercion.
Click to expand...
And thereby hangs a tale . . . the ‘Casa dei Neofiti’ was not a universally popular phenomenon.
 
Properly defined, yes with limits. Religious liberty has to do with man’s ability “freely to assent to the divine truth which transcends the temporal order” (CCC 2106). Furthermore, “The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error, nor a supposed right to error,37 but rather a natural right of the human person to civil liberty, i.e., immunity, within just limits, from external constraint in religious matters by political authorities.” (CCC 2108)

That brings us to the “just limits” the civil power can impose by virtue of its role in service of the common good.

CCC 2109:
"The right to religious liberty can of itself be neither unlimited nor limited only by a “public order” conceived in a positivist or naturalist manner.39 The “due limits” which are inherent in it must be determined for each social situation by political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority in accordance with “legal principles which are in conformity with the objective moral order.”
Click to expand...
Note, the conception of public order can’t be “positivist” (it has to be based on the objective truth) and it can’t be “naturalist” (it has to take into account supernatural truth and man’s supernatural end). It also cannot be an excuse for public immorality. It’s also going to vary depending on the circumstances.

As the Church teaches, the common good must include the good of the whole man, spiritual and temporal (see CCC 1924-1925). Because of this, civil authority should measures its decisions in service of the common good by the true religion which alone recognizes man’s full good (see CCC 2244).

Some circumstances required more strict limits, some a broader freedom for all. Generally, in our current, more pluralistic society, the Church has generally advocated for a broader freedom for all to serve the common good. But a more unified Catholic country would be justified in repressing the spread of religious error that threatened its unity in the true faith, an important good.

That’s why the Church as a practical matter seems to support it some situations and oppose it in others, while the principles remain the same.
 
Last edited:
Yes, so that where ever this freedom is practiced, that freedom prepares them to receive the divine revelation Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church does not compete with other religions in freedom. In fact the Church missions to go out to those religious experiencing persecution in other countries despite the risk of death or martyrdom. Pray for us Saint JPII
 
Thank you for that site. We must consider the difference between religious freedom and the abuse of individual freedom which becomes a poison for the America’s.

[The Pope’s alarming message on American religious freedom …](https://www.catholicculture.org
 
I read the link you provided and, in this election year, a timely reminder of where we are as a nation. If there a point you were intending to make though, beyond the obvious difference between religious freedom and individual freedom abused . . .I’m not seeing it.
 
I have no idea what you are referring to with that remark. New Christians since the beginning were not coerced into accepting the Good News.
They heard a message that they liked and followed it.
It all began in Israel and quickly spread out to the 4 corners of the world as it was prophesied.
Malachi 1:11 For, from the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place, a clean oblation is being sacrificed and offered to my name. For my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord of hosts
Click to expand...
Peace!
 
The Church does not permit Catholics to believe any and every doctrine. So no, the Church does not permit freedom in that sense. A nation has to have some tolerance for diverse beliefs. But even there, it’s not absolute. As for a Catholic state, that’s controversial in light of Vatican II.
 
Last edited:
The Church has grown out of the blood of the martyrs. By freely embracing their faith in the face of government coercion, the martyrs established the importance of religious freedom.

We not only believe in religious freedom, it is the witness to the core of our faith.
 
Catholic martyrs did not die in defense of the freedom for false religions to spread lies for example. Our Lord is the greatest of the martyrs and He accepted that false religions were punished by Jewish authority.
 
The martyrs are witnesses to the sovereign freedom of Christ who set us free. Indeed, anyone who is killed for their religion is an image of Christ who was crucified
The martyrs of the early Church died for their faith in that God who was revealed in Jesus Christ, and for this very reason they also died for freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one’s own faith - a profession that no State can impose but which, instead, can only be claimed with God’s grace in freedom of conscience. A missionary Church known for proclaiming her message to all peoples must necessarily work for the freedom of the faith. She desires to transmit the gift of the truth that exists for one and all.
Benedict XVI. Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia 2005
Click to expand...
 
Muslims impose their faith so I guess the Church would oppose their religious freedom to do that. Or perhaps it’s ok for Muslims?
 
I think Thomas More serves as a good microcosm on the matter.

Early Thomas More
Catholic government
He has the power to burn heretics and to prevent Protestant documentation from crossing the border.
He is against religious freedom.

Later Thomas More
Anglican government
The King uses his power to threaten More to endorse the king’s second marriage against More’s religious convictions.
Suddenly More is a BIG fan of religious freedom.

Another thing to look at, besides what Kaninchen already presented, is to look at religious freedom under the Papal States.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top