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Monday, December 07, 2015

50 Years Ago Today: The Declaration on Religious Freedom

On Dec. 7, 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated Dignitatis Humanae, the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom, "on the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in matters religious."  Here're the opening lines:

A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man,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. The demand is likewise made that constitutional limits should be set to the powers of government, in order that there may be no encroachment on the rightful freedom of the person and of associations.

The Declaration and its anniversary were the subject of a really good conference, organized and hosted by the Notre Dame Law Review, a few weeks ago.  John Garvey, the President of the Catholic University of America (and the former dean of the Boston College Law School) gave the keynote.

Posted by Rick Garnett on December 7, 2015 at 11:27 AM in Religion, Rick Garnett | Permalink

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