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The right to religious freedom is exercised in human society:
hence its exercise is subject to certain regulatory norms. In the use
of all freedoms the moral principle of personal and social
responsibility is to be observed. In the exercise of their rights,
individual men and social groups are bound by the moral law to have
respect both for the rights of others and for their own duties toward
others and for the common welfare of all. Men are to deal with their
fellows in justice and civility.
Furthermore, society has the right to defend itself against possible
abuses committed on the pretext of freedom of religion. It is the
special duty of government to provide this protection. However,
government is not to act in an arbitrary fashion or in an unfair spirit
of partisanship. Its action is to be controlled by juridical norms
which are in conformity with the objective moral order. These norms
arise out of the need for the effective safeguard of the rights of all
citizens and for the peaceful settlement of conflicts of rights, also
out of the need for an adequate care of genuine public peace, which
comes about when men live together in good order and in true justice,
and finally out of the need for a proper guardianship of public
morality.
These matters constitute the basic component of the common welfare:
they are what is meant by public order. For the rest, the usages of
society are to be the usages of freedom in their full range: that is,
the freedom of man is to be respected as far as possible and is not to
be curtailed except when and insofar as necessary.
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