The Evolving (and Dangerous) Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Use of the Doctrine of Religious Liberty
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Authors
Salzman, Todd A.
Lawler, Michael G.
Issue Date
2024
Volume
25
Issue
Type
Journal Article
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Keywords
Conscience , Dignitatis Humanae , Gaudium et Spes , Religious Liberty , Same-Sex Parenting
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Abstract
Religious Freedom has become a highly politicized and prioritized principle in the public square and in the USCCB’s doctrinal teaching, replacing another more foundational doctrine, the authority and inviolability of a well-formed conscience. The bishops in the United States have “pioneered a self-serving invocation of ‘religious liberty.’” This self-serving invocation in understanding and prioritizing religious liberty in relation to conscience and magisterial norms is a distortion of Catholic teaching in three ways. First, the USCCB prioritizes its understanding of religious liberty over a well-formed conscience, which is a distortion of the Second Vatican Council’s understanding of the interrelationship between the two. Second, it distorts the relationship between objective norms, such as religious liberty and same-sex relationships, and conscience. Finally, the gravest distortion is the dangerous development of the USCCB’s use of religious liberty to misinform consciences to defend its doctrinal teaching against same-sex relationships.
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Publisher
Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke Center, Creighton University
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ISSN
1941-8450