thierry -  2003-06-15 20:10:27

Re : Non

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It is in this dignity of the person that human rights find their immediate source. And it is respect for this dignity that gives birth to their effective protection. The human person, even when he or she errs, always maintains inherent dignity and never forfeits his or her personal dignity.

For believers, it is by allowing God to speak to man that one can contribute more truly to the strengthening of the consciousness that every human being has of his or her destiny, and to the awareness that all rights derive from the dignity of the person who is firmly rooted in God.
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The Church strives to be the interpreter of the thirst modern men and women have for dignity. So I would solemnily ask that, in every place and by everyone, religious freedom be respected for every person and for all peoples. I am moved to make this solemm appeal because of the profound conviction that, even aside from the desire to serve God, the common good of society itself "may profit by the moral qualities of justice and peace which have their origin in man’s faithfulness to God and to his holy will". The free exercise of religion benefits both individuals and governments. Therefore the obligation to respect religious freedom falls on everyone, both private citizens and legitimate civil authority.

Why then is repressive and discriminatory action practised against vast numbers of citizens, who have had to suffer all sort of oppression, even death, simply in order to preserve their spiritual values, yet who despite all this have never ceased to cooperate in everything that serves the true civil and social progress of their country? Should they not be the objects of admiration and praise rather than considered as suspect and criminals?

My Predecessor Paul VI raised this question: " Can a State fruitfully call for entire trust and collaboration while, by a kind of ‘negative confessionalism’, ít proclaims itself atheist and while declaring that it respects within a certain framework individual beliefs takes up positions against the faith of part of its citizens?".

Justice, wisdom and realism all demand that the baneful positions of secularism be overcome, particularly the erroneous reduction of the religious fact to the purely private sphere. Every person mu s t be given the opportuni ty within the con tex t of our life together to profess his or her faith and belief, alone or with others, in private and in public.
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