As Americans, we value our freedom immensely. But as Catholics, we often come across instances in which our love of freedom seems, at least at first glance, to contradict our faith. We obviously have certain moral standards that we believe benefit society as whole, but struggle to distinguish between morality-related laws and tyranny. Many Catholics believe people should not have access to things like pornography, but balk at the idea of making it illegal. They feel that any restriction on immorality also restricts freedom. But this view misunderstands the nature of freedom. In fact, Pope Saint John Paul II says, “True freedom is not advanced in the permissive society, which confuses freedom with license to do anything whatever and which in the name of freedom proclaims a kind of general amorality.” How then should we define freedom, and what does it mean practically for us?
Pope John Paul himself gives us a great working definition. He says, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” He wants us to distinguish between ‘freedom’ and ‘license.’ Whereas we defined freedom above, we can define license as having the ability to do something. As counterintuitive as it sounds, having less license can sometimes actually make us more free.
We can sum up this idea in a quick story. Mark makes himself work out and diet every day. Conversely, Larry simply does whatever he wants, whenever, and only eats what he feels like in the moment. Larry clearly uses more license, but who is truly free? Mark’s self-denial will, over time, give him a greater mastery over himself. If he wants to hike up a mountain, he can. Larry, who never exercises or eats healthily, will struggle with something like that. By putting reasonable limits on himself, Mark has given himself more freedom in life. Larry, by allowing total license for his desires, has robbed himself not only of many things he may want to do later, but perhaps even several years of his life. Mark clearly has more freedom.
This concept can also apply to our earlier example of pornography. Many health professionals have noted the addictive nature of pornography. People who use pornography often find it almost impossible to stop, even when they want to. If we took two such addicts and made it physically impossible for one of them to view pornography, would they become more or less free than the one who could still view it?
Freedom means doing what we ought, not what we want. God gives us freedom for His purposes, not ours. God wants us to be free to hike a mountain and love others rightly in every way – including our sexuality. As Saint Paul reminds us, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another” (Gal 5:13). The Bible tells us that freedom exists for love. If we use our freedom only to please ourselves, we misunderstand its purpose. But the more we use our freedom to love and serve others, the more free we become.
Chris Tarantino is the Communications Director for TOBET. He studied History at The University at Texas A&M and has written for the Tennessee Register and Nashville Catholic.
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