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Psalm 18I love you, O Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer, my God, my Rock in whom I take refuge, . |
The individual is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to personal conscience;
Many are facing difficulties regarding the perceived overlap between religious freedom and personal civic duty.
Religious Freedom Definition; Freedom of Religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or in private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching practice, worship and observance.
Personal Civic Duty Definition; The responsibilities of a citizen.
What happens when, in the course of personal civic life, an issue arises that the citizen perceives as one which has connotations for personal religious belief?
A personal dilemma ensues, in which the person needs must make a decision as to what action to take.
This action is filtered through the person's conscience.
The Definition of Conscience is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behaviour.
DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
DIGNITATIS HUMANAE
ON THE RIGHT OF THE PERSON AND OF COMMUNITIES
TO SOCIAL AND CIVIL FREEDOM IN MATTERS RELIGIOUS
PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON DECEMBER 7, 1965
Excerpts from the Prophetic Dignitatis Humanae;
1. A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man,(1) and the demand is increasingly made that men should act on their own judgment, enjoying and making use of a responsible freedom, not driven by coercion but motivated by a sense of duty . . .
Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society . . .
2. This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.
The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself.(2) This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed and thus it is to become a civil right.
It is in accordance with their dignity as persons-that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility-that all men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth. However, men cannot discharge these obligations in a manner in keeping with their own nature unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion as well as psychological freedom . . .
3. Further light is shed on the subject if one considers that the highest norm of human life is the divine law-eternal, objective and universal-whereby God orders, directs and governs the entire universe and all the ways of the human community by a plan conceived in wisdom and love. Man has been made by God to participate in this law, with the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence, he can come to perceive ever more fully the truth that is unchanging. Wherefore every man has the duty, and therefore the right, to seek the truth in matters religious in order that he may with prudence form for himself right and true judgments of conscience, under use of all suitable means . . .
On his part, man perceives and acknowledges the imperatives of the divine law through the mediation of conscience. In all his activity a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of life. It follows that he is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience. Nor, on the other hand, is he to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience, especially in matters religious. The reason is that the exercise of religion, of its very nature, consists before all else in those internal, voluntary and free acts whereby man sets the course of his life directly toward God. No merely human power can either command or prohibit acts of this kind.(3)
11. . . .He acknowledged the power of government and its rights, when He commanded that tribute be given to Caesar: but He gave clear warning that the higher rights of God are to be kept inviolate: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22:21).
12. . . .Thus the leaven of the Gospel has long been about its quiet work in the minds of men, and to it is due in great measure the fact that in the course of time men have come more widely to recognize their dignity as persons, and the conviction has grown stronger that the person in society is to be kept free from all manner of coercion in matters religious.
Exegesis;
Pope Paul VI directly addressed the right of the individual and communities to Social and Civil Freedom in matters Religious.
The Prophetic Pope affirms the following;
Contemporary people have a sense of their own dignity.
The demand was increasingly made that the individual should act on own judgement with responsible freedom.
The individual should be free from coercion when acting on own judgement, and should be motivated by a sense of duty (sense of responsibility).
The individual is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to personal conscience.
The individual has the right to religious freedom.
Immunity from external coercion and psychological freedom is needed when searching for truth, especially religious truth.
The highest norm of human life is the divine law whereby God orders and governs the universe.
When making decisions in daily life, each person needs to weigh up personal decisions to be made in the light of his or her own personal informed conscience.
Sometimes a situation may arise which reflects a change in societal norms, and this may challenge the individual with situations arising therefrom.
It is important to remember Jesus the Master's Teaching; "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."
To God we owe our allegiance and obedience to His Word according to our own conscience.
If our conscience strongly advises us not to participate in an action or situation which would go against our deepest and most cherished religious beliefs, then we must need follow our conscience in all things that do not lead to sin.
We individually, and we alone, will stand before Almighty God at the Judgement Seat
No one can make that decision for us. We individually, and we alone, will stand before Almighty God at the Judgement Seat after we make our journey from this life to the next.
We need thus to protect our eternal destiny and make informed and wise decisions in this world which we can calmly accept as the best decisions to have made, when we speak to God in the next world.
As Pope Paul VI has guided us in Dignitatis Humanae, we cannot abrogate the right to another to make our personal decisions for us.
We - individuals made in the Image and Likeness of Almighty God - must make decisions that will bear up to the standards God set for us when He made us like Him.
Sometimes we are faced with a situation- in which our spiritual and practical duty is clear to us in line with our conscience - when we feel the difficulties of possible coercion from external factors to change our mind.
God, the end and purpose of life
Our duty is clear.
In all activity an individual needs to follow personal conscience in order to come to God, the end and purpose of life.
It follows that the individual may not be forced to act in a manner contrary to personal conscience, especially in matters religious.
The reason is that the exercise of religion consists in internal, voluntary and free acts whereby the individual sets the course of personal life directly toward God.
Dignitatis Humanae affirms that no merely human power can either command or prohibit acts of this kind.
We thus need to follow our informed and balanced conscience in matters religious, when our decisions do not lead to sin.
NOTES
1. Cf. John XXIII, encycl. "Pacem in Terris", April 11, 1963: AAS 55 (1963) p. 279; ibid., p. 265; Pius XII, radio message, Dec. 24, 1944: AAS 37 (1945), p. 14.
3. Cf. John XXIII, encycl. "Pacem in Terris", April 11, 1963: AAS 55 (1963), p. 270; Paul VI, radio message, Dec. 22, 1964: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 181-182.
Declaration on Religious Freedom 'Dignitatis Humanae'
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html
