Religious Liberty in «Natural Law and Natural Rights»

Abstract

John Finnis since 1980 has published many important scholarly papers treating different aspects of religious liberty. These works include both philosophical and theological perspectives. Some of the best of this work has specifically addressed Dignitatis humane, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration of Religious Freedom. Perhaps surprisingly, then, Finnis says almost nothing explicitly about either the Council or about religious freedom in Natural Law and Natural Rights. I shall argue here that Finnis nonetheless identifies and cogently defends in Natural Law and Natural Rights (NLNR) the foundational components of a sound conception of religious liberty. Building upon these anchor points – drawing a line connecting the dots, if you will – one can bring this conception into clear view. Because it is constructed bottom up from deep philosophical foundations, this implicit account of religious liberty is critically justified, as well as robust. In this article I also build upon Finnis’s foundations, and show how putative divine revelations to humankind impact religious liberty and, then, describe the cultural formations conducive to making robust religious liberty practically available to the inquiring, deliberating, acting person.