What Is Religious Freedom?

Originally appeared in Public Discourse: Ethics, Law, and the Common Good, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, NJ

Reproduced with permission

Robert P. George*

In its fullest and most robust sense, religion is the human person’s being in right relation to the divine. All of us have a duty, in conscience, to seek the truth and to honor the freedom of all men and women everywhere to do the same.

When the US Congress passed the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, it recognized that religious liberty and the freedom of conscience are in the front rank of the essential human rights whose protection, in every country, merits the solicitude of the United States in its foreign policy. Therefore, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, of which I became chair yesterday, was created by the act to monitor the state of these precious rights around the world.

But why is religious freedom so essential? Why does it merit such heightened concern by citizens and policymakers alike? In order to answer those questions, we should begin with a still more basic question. What is religion? [Full text]

American Cardinals speak forcefully on freedom of conscience and religion

Timothy Cardinal Dolan,  Archbishop of New York and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) addressed the John Carroll Society in Washington, D.C. on the theme of “Let Religious Freedom Ring.”  Cardinal Dolan stated that “freedom of religion has been the driving force of almost every enlightened, un-shackling, noble cause in American history,” and that defence of religious freedom is “the quintessential American cause, the first line in the defense of and protection of human rights.”[Zenit] [My Catholic Standard]  During thekeynote address at the Catholic Perspectives on Religious Liberty symposium at Georgetown University, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. argued that to relegate religion to the private sphere and silence moral teaching in public is dangerous because religious belief is “the conscience of society.” [CNS]

Project Submission to the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom

Re: Personal beliefs and medical practice: A draft for consultation

  • Background | The General Medical Council is the state agency that regulates the medical profession in Britain.  A draft guideline on personal beliefs and medical practice generated concern that, if adopted, it would produce an “atmosphere of fear” among physicians who are religious believers. Project Submission

Concern expressed in United Kingdom over proposed physician guidelines

Bishop Tom Williams, chairman of the Healthcare Reference Group of Britain’s Catholic bishops’ conference, is encouraging Catholic physicians and others to respond to the General Medical Council’s draft guideline on personal beliefs and medical practice.  Bishop Williams warned that the document is likely to produce an “atmosphere of fear” among physicians who are religious believers.  The General Medical Council is the state agency that regulates the medical profession. [Catholic Herald]