Freedom of Conscience
Joseph Kenny, O.P.
Published in Flos Carmeli, no. 10 (Ibadan: 2011), p. 8
"Oh, my stomach!" cried Mrs. Hofi. "Such pain, it's been ten years now. And the doctors are no help."
"I had the same trouble," answered Mrs. Jofi. "Then I went to a herbalist. That brought me relief."
"To a herbalist!" shouted Mrs. Hofi. "That's a sin. I could never do that."
"I don't see anything wrong," retorted Mrs Jofi. "There was no sacrifice. Do you want to die young?"
The two could not agree. One conscience went one direction, the other the opposite.
Does conscience oblige? —Conscience is a judgment of our mind. It's a conclusion based on principles and facts. It tells us "This is right", or "This is wrong".
What is a correct conscience? —One based on true principles and true facts. A wrong conscience is mistaken, either about principles, or about the facts.
You talk about a wrong conscience. Give me some examples. —Many people have wrong beliefs, for example:
- that abortion is sometimes right
- that sometimes sex outside marriage is right
- that one religion, or church, is as good as another.
If your conscience is wrong, can you be blamed? —Sometimes yes, sometimes no. If you do not study the question, or listen to good advice, you are blameworthy.
But if you examine available information, and listen to people you respect, and judge what seems reasonable, you are free from blame. But your judgment was provisional, with an element of doubt. You must be open to new information, and better advice.
Who is to judge my conscience, whether it is right or wrong, or blame and punish me? —God is our judge. When we know something is wrong, and we do it anyway, he will punish us. If we are misinformed, and resist better information, he will also punish that.
Who is to guide my conscience, correct me when I am wrong? —Jesus answered that when he told the Apostles, "He who listens to you, listens to me" (Lk 10:16). Jesus left us the Church, and its leaders, to guide us in the truth.
What about the government, the police? —Police are there to provide security, to prevent crime, such as murder and robbery. That include protecting the unborn.
What about religion? Should government promote the true religion? —No. Government should facilitate the practice of religion, but cannot interfere with personal conscience. Vatican II gives the reason: "The reason is that the exercise of religion, of its very nature, consists before all else in those internal, voluntary and free acts whereby man sets the course of his life directly toward God" (Dignitatis humanae, #3).
So, when it comes to religion, we answer to God, but not to government? —Yes. The same Vatican document explains further (#1):
On their part, all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know, and to hold fast to it.
This Vatican Council likewise professes its belief that it is upon the human conscience that these obligations fall and exert their binding force. The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.
Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society. Therefore it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ.
One last thing. What are conscience deadeners? —These are habits or attachments to sin. They act like an injection of morphine, to put your conscience asleep. Take an armed robber gang. The members are induced to kill. The first time is hard. Do it a few more times, and they think nothing of it. The same for fornication. The first time brings shame and tears. After a while it becomes second nature, a necessity with no remorse.
Thank you very much. A big job awaits us, to preach the truth that liberates, to enlighten, to waken people's consciences, and help them make the right choices.