People of faith need freedom to serve
Last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on Masterpiece Cakeshop was a narrowly decided victory for the cause of religious freedom. People of faith, the justices upheld, should not suffer discrimination on account of deeply held religious beliefs. Unfortunately, while Masterpiece Cakeshop was perhaps a “battlefield victory,” those who would seek to limit our religious freedom in the public square have by no means surrendered.
Our freedom to serve — as people of faith — in areas such as health care, child welfare, migration and refugee services, education, etc., continued to be challenged by proponents of the ascendant secularism of our culture. They would deny us the freedom to serve and witness to our beliefs because we insist upholding on the sanctity of life and dignity of each human person from conception to natural death or because we defend true marriage as a conjugal union of one man and one woman. They would bar us from participating in public policy debates on behalf of the poor, the immigrant, the vulnerable, because of our “religious” viewpoint. In denying us space in civil society they would reduce religious freedom to simply freedom to worship — if even that.
Yet, as Pope Francis told a joint session of Congress in September 2015: “(Religious) freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.” To “serve others in God’s love,” we must be able to serve with integrity, faithful to the moral teachings of the gospel.
Of course as Catholics, we believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man — and therefore he reveals to us not only who God is but also who man is. We do not seek to impose a creedal definition on any citizen. We serve people not because they are Catholic; but, because we are. However, through our service, we do offer a proposal toward a fuller understanding of the truth about the human person and of his Godgiven dignity and freedom. Informed by faith, we seek to build a world in which the value and the rights of every human person is promoted and protected.
The contributions of our service as a people of faith can also stand as a necessary corrective to the reductive definitions of a secularism that denies that man exists for anything else but to die one day. Indeed, our belief in a transcendent destiny does not distract us from engagement in the affairs of the world. It commits us to making the world a better place. The proud tradition of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy carried on by the church for two millennia is testimony to our commitment to human solidarity.
As we bishops insisted in our statement, called Faithful Citizenship, when we bring our moral convictions into public life we “do not threaten democracy or pluralism but enrich them and the nation. The separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, but protects the right of believers and religious groups to practice their faith and act on their values in public life.”
THOMAS WENSKI, MIAMI Editor’s note: The Most Rev. Thomas Wenski is archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami.