835. Is freedom of conscience a consequence of freedom of thought?
“Conscience is an inner thought that belongs to persons, as do all their other thoughts.”
836. Do humans have the right to set up barriers to freedom of conscience?
“No more so than to freedom of thought, because God alone has the right to judge the conscience. If humans use their laws to regulate relations between individuals, God uses the laws of nature to regulate relations between individuals and God.”
837. What is the result of barriers to freedom of conscience?
“It constrains individuals to act against their own way of thinking, turning them into hypocrites. Freedom of conscience is one of the characteristics of true civilization and progress.”
838. Is every belief respectable, even when notoriously wrongheaded?
“Every belief is respectable when it is sincere and leads to the practice of the good. Reproachable beliefs are those that lead to evil.”
839. Are we blameworthy when we use our own beliefs to scandalize someone who does not think like us?
“It shows a lack of charity and goes against freedom of thought.”
840. Does it go against freedom of conscience to obstruct beliefs that might disturb society?
“Acts may be restrained but inner belief is inaccessible.”
Restraining the external acts of a belief when such acts cause harm to others does not go against freedom of conscience, for such repression leaves to the belief its entire freedom.
841. Out of respect for freedom of conscience, should we allow the propagation of harmful doctrines, or may we without going against such freedom seek to lead back onto the path of truth those who have been led astray by erroneous principles?
“Certainly you may, and you should. But to follow the example of Jesus, you must teach by gentleness and persuasion and not by force since that would be worse than the belief of the one whom you desired to convince. If there is something that ought to be imposed, it is goodness and fraternity; but we do not believe the means for doing so is violence: conviction cannot be forcefully imposed.”
842. Since all doctrines claim to be the sole expression of the truth, by what signs can we recognize which one actually has the right to be presented as such?
“It will be the one that produces the fewest hypocrites and the greatest number of moral individuals, which means they practice the law of love and charity in its greatest purity and widest application. By this sign you will recognize which doctrine is good, because those doctrines that result in sowing disunion and establishing divisions among God’s children can be only erroneous and harmful.”
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