Global Public Square

What kind of thing must freedom be to be guaranteed to every human being? In this conflicted world of competing ideologies and religious differences, the threats to human dignity are terrifyingly real. Offenses and misunderstandings can spark riots and wars. Governments and religions battle over the right to exist. People are crushed by contemporary dictatorships of mind and heart, whether secularist totalitarianism, religious authoritarianism or Western illiberalism. Is there any hope for living together peacefully? Os Guinness argues that the best way to ensure freedom and justice for all is to champion the freedom of the soul—the inviolable freedom of thought, conscience and religion that promotes and protects human dignity and fosters stable societies. English Puritan Roger Williams wrote of "soul liberty," a freedom of belief that acts as a bulwark against abuses of power and the oppression of humanity. In contrast to religionist voices that impose their beliefs on others and secularist visions that exclude all religious perspectives, Guinness offers a vision for advancing liberty and civility in the global public square. This constructive vision charts a course for the future of the world. If we are to make the world safe for diversity, we must learn to negotiate deep differences in public life. For a world desperate for hope at a critical juncture of human history, here is a way forward, for the good of all.