Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.77.3.3
On Freedom of Conscience and the Public Character of Religion from the Perspective of Contemporary Political Theology
Mirko Vlk
orcid.org/0000-0003-4659-4652
; Croatian Catholic Mission, Hamburg, Germany
Abstract
Freedom of conscience is the foundation of the modern notion of freedom and moral autonomy. Therefore it has historically called into question obeisance to the external authority of religion and obedience to the state supported by religion in its area of competence. This article examines how political theology sees freedom of conscience and whether it could come to terms with the public role of religion as the propagator of public moral order. To this end, the article sources from the “old” political theology of Carl Schmitt and the new political theology of Johann Baptist Metz, as well as the Declaration on Freedom of Religion Dignitatis Humanae promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, to examine this issue through a systematic reflection on the relation of the faith to the world. In conclusion, freedom of conscience is not merely a proclamation of sovereignty of the individual but also infers a moral duty to one’s fellow man. It follows that freedom of conscience makes possible not only human rights under the rule of law, but also a way for religion, its concern for shared moral values and Man’s transcendent purpose, to be realized practically in the shared concern for Mankind. Such a synthesis of morality and politics goes beyond the institutional separation of Church and State as well as other conflicts of interest in public life or the notion of politics as just a managerial tehnique.
Keywords
Carl Schmitt; Johann Baptist Metz; freedom of conscience; religion; political theology
Hrčak ID:
279740
URI
Publication date:
5.7.2022.
Visits: 697 *