WASHINGTON (CNS) – Here are some key points raised in “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty” by the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty:.
• American Catholics should not have to choose between being Catholics and being Americans.
• Attacks on religious liberty have real-world consequences.
• Religious liberty requires constant vigilance and protection, or it will disappear.
• Unjust laws (those out of harmony with the moral law) cannot be obeyed and no accommodation can be made to an unjust law.
• Christians of various traditions share with Catholics a concern about efforts to strip religious arguments from public debate.
• If religious liberty erodes at home, U.S. defense of religious freedom abroad becomes less credible.
• All segments of the U.S. Catholic population must pray and fast for religious liberty.
• A special period of prayer, study, catechesis and public action called the “fortnight for freedom” will take place from June 21 to July 4.
• Bishops and priests should preach about religious liberty here and abroad Nov. 25, the feast of Christ the King.