{"id":1067,"date":"2012-09-13T23:03:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/cardinal-wuerl-says-religion-is-conscience-of-democracy\/"},"modified":"2012-09-13T23:03:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T23:03:00","slug":"cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the ‘conscience’ of democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\tFrom the earliest days of our country's history, religion has been understood as playing a \u201cvital role\u201d in public life and a clear \u201cpart of the very fabric of our nation,\u201d the cardinal explained.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe may have quibbled over expressions of faith. We may have even been hostile to one another's faith,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we never argued that faith doesn't belong as the foundation for our understanding of how we relate to one another and our obligations to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCardinal Wuerl delivered the keynote address at the Catholic Perspectives on Religious Liberty symposium at Georgetown University on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

\tThe event was hosted by the Maryland Catholic Bishops Conference and the Religious Freedom Project of Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.<\/p>\n

\tThe cardinal explained that religious faith has always been \"deeply embedded\" in American culture.<\/p>\n

\tWhile the work of religious schools, hospitals and social ministries are important, he said, these \u201ctangible human services\u201d are not the only contributions that religion offers to society.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWith religious faith comes a way of living, a set of standards for moral and civil behavior,\u201d he explained, adding that these expectations are \u201cwoven into the very fabric of our societal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201c'You shall not kill' is not simply a legal convention of any particular political persuasion, but rather a moral imperative rooted in our human nature, proclaimed by our religious heritage and intrinsic to the identity of all of us as a people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tCardinal Wuerl pointed to numerous examples of early political speeches, sermons and documents that acknowledge religion\u2019s role in a successful democracy.<\/p>\n

\tImportantly, he noted, those who heard and read these early statements were not shocked by them because \"religion as a presupposition for the political prosperity of our infant republic was simply accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe natural moral law was the primary lens through which Americans perceived the basis of their legal system,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\tTherefore, religious liberty was viewed as a critical freedom, intimately connected to political liberty and leading to a fruitful discussion over policy decisions, he said.<\/p>\n

\tAmericans have long understood that religious liberty is an inherent part of being human, not a privilege granted by the state, he observed, while at the same time recognizing that the various faith traditions serve the interests of the state by teaching their respective followers to live peacefully and respectfully.<\/p>\n

\tIt is fair to say that in a democracy, both \u201cChurch and state are home of the same people,\u201d he explained, because the laws come from the people, who are formed by the moral convictions of their respective faith traditions.<\/p>\n

\tToday, however, this \u201cessential quality\u201d of faith is often pushed aside, Cardinal Wuerl warned. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tWhen religion is confined to the private sphere and traditional moral teaching is silenced in the public square, faith cannot play its vital role in the political process, he said.<\/p>\n

\tThis is dangerous for the culture, he cautioned, because America still needs religion to be \u201cthe conscience of society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTherefore, the cardinal said, the fight for religious freedom is not self-centered, but rather aimed at the common good of the nation. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOur religious beliefs stand, as they have from the very beginning, ready to serve our country, our culture, our society, shedding the light of God's wisdom into the heart of the great American experiment of religious pluralism and liberty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/\",\"name\":\"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the ‘conscience’ of democracy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy","description":"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy","og_description":"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/","name":"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the 'conscience' of democracy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-13T23:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2012 \/ 05:03 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Since America's founding, its people have understood the importance of religion as the conscience of the culture and necessary for a society to flourish, said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Wa...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/cardinal-wuerl-calls-religion-the-conscience-of-democracy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cardinal Wuerl calls religion the ‘conscience’ of democracy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}