LIBERTATEA CONȘTIINȚEI – DAR DIVIN, MARTOR INTERIOR AL OMULUI ȘI TEMEI PENTRU DREPTURILE OMULUI, EDUCAȚIE ȘI PACE TRAINICĂ

Abstract

Freedom of Conscience – A Divine Gift, the Inner Witness of Man and the Foundation for Human Rights, Education and Lasting Peace.
Freedom of conscience is part of the so-called natural rights of man, pre-existing, in the opinion of some authors, the consecrations in constitutional or other norms, because man is endowed with freedom of will and conscience, through the very act of creation, by God. This thesis is worthy of being retained in order to clarify, to some extent, the relationship between human freedoms (rights), and on the other hand, legal norms (positive laws). It is not the law that determines and gives content to individual freedoms and fundamental rights, but on the contrary, the legitimacy of any law directly stems from the way in which the fundamental, pre-existing freedoms, being God’s gift to man, are reflected in the legal norm. We appreciate that this is a social imperative to outline in this way the possibility of human freedom in the social environment. Our Savior Jesus Christ tells us: „Not everyone who says to me, ‚Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21), therefore, „whatever you want men to do to you, do to them likewise; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12) - this being the golden rule of universal Christian morality through which man, in freedom of conscience, works the commandments of God, thus achieving peace with God, with himself and with his fellow men.