Church, State, and Religious Liberty: Syllabus of Errors v. Dignitatis Humanae

[TimelessTheist]

I'm reminded of a speech Joseph Raztinger gave back when he was head of the CDF about, iirc, the instruction on liberation theology. He started out by observing that pretty much every journalist who wrote about it focused on chapter 5-- the section on the practical implications. Ratzinger rolled his eyes at this (in a rhetorical sense-- I'm not sure I could imagine him physically doing that), saying basically that all these journalists were misunderstanding chapter 5 because they didn't properly read or understand the first four chapters, which laid the intellectual and theological foundation for the policy r.e. liberation theology. What I'm getting at is that Dignitatis Humanae is not just a change in policy: it's a complete argument that must be understood on its own terms before we understand why the resultant policy is what it is. That's why the thread is a read-through of DH, not just a straightforward debate.

Well, one, I would say that the declarations of Church Councils should not be taken 'on their own terms', they should be taken within the context of the previous declarations of the Church, and previous Church tradition, though, I see what you're getting at.

citations always help

"One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you. But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD and must be cut off from the people of Israel." Numbers 15:29-30

They were allowed to live there and follow their own gods, but were still not allowed to publicly blaspheme the God of Israel, or break any of the other laws that he laid down.

[Spartacus]

I'll try to get back to this thread as soon as I can. A few other writing projects are taking priority for me at the moment. Apologies.