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The freedom or immunity from coercion in matters religious which
is the endowment of persons as individuals is also to be recognized as
their right when they act in community. Religious communities are a
requirement of the social nature both of man and of religion itself.
Provided the just demands of public order are observed, religious
communities rightfully claim freedom in order that they may govern
themselves according to their own norms, honor the Supreme Being in
public worship, assist their members in the practice of the religious
life, strengthen them by instruction, and promote institutions in
which they may join together for the purpose of ordering their own lives
in accordance with their religious principles.
Religious communities also have the right not to be hindered, either
by legal measures or by administrative action on the part of
government, in the selection, training, appointment, and transferral
of their own ministers, in communicating with religious authorities and
communities abroad, in erecting buildings for religious purposes, and
in the acquisition and use of suitable funds or properties.
Religious communities also have the right not to be hindered in their
public teaching and witness to their faith, whether by the spoken or by
the written word. However, in spreading religious faith and in
introducing religious practices everyone ought at all times to refrain
from any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion
or of a kind of persuasion that would be dishonorable or unworthy,
especially when dealing with poor or uneducated people. Such a manner
of action would have to be considered an abuse of one's right and a
violation of the right of others.
In addition, it comes within the meaning of religious freedom that
religious communities should not be prohibited from freely undertaking
to show the special value of their doctrine in what concerns the
organization of society and the inspiration of the whole of human
activity. Finally, the social nature of man and the very nature of
religion afford the foundation of the right of men freely to hold
meetings and to establish educational, cultural, charitable and social
organizations, under the impulse of their own religious sense.
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