LIBERTY, Itimuitors. The inherent right of the individual to form his religious opinions according to the dictates of his own eon-demo. and to give outward expression to them in the form of public worship independently of all restraint or coercion upon the part of the State. It. includes more than mere freedom of conseience, which in reality is beyond the control of the elicit power. it includes also more than mere toleration, which simply concedes for the time the right of tho individual to worship as he pleases—a concession which implies the supe riority of an established church and which may be withdrawn at the will of the grant ing it. Religions liberty implies the equality of all in the matter of worship. while the prin ciple upon which toleration is granted denies this idea. Religious liberty is frequently char acterized as one of the absolute, inalienable, or natural rights of the individual, while toleration is a concession emanating from the benevolence of the sovereign.
Among the nations of antiquity the idea of tel liberty was almost totally lacking. In Egypt. Assyria. Babylon. Persia. and Syria the individual was subject to the will of the King in religions as in civil matters. In the Roman Empire worship of the State religion vas obliga tory upon every subject. The Christ hut religion was tolerated merely by many of the emperors during the early centuries of the Christian Era. There were spasmodie persecutions by Nero. Domitian, Hadrian, and others, lint it was not until the reign of Diocletian that a determined effort was made to exterminate the Christian religion. By his order all Christian assemblies were forbidden; all ehurches were to he de stroyed: all Christian hooks to be burned; and all Christians who refused to adopt the State religion were to suffer death. Early in the fourth century a formal net of toleration was granted to the Christian; by the Emperor Galerius, hut it was expressly enacted that they were to respect the religion of the State. This was soon followed by the eonversion of the Emperor Constantine. and his promulgation. in 313. of the eelebrated Edict of Milan. which granted the fullest toleration of religious worship to all persons. This was shortly followed by an
edict prohibiting heathen worship and establish ing Christianity as the State religion of the Empire.
Throughout the Middle Ages the question of religious liberty scarcely arose. The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church were unquestioned and its authority universally recognized in most of the countries of Europe. lint when the Albigenses in Southern France refused to accept the Catholic doctrines, they were con demned as heretics and the sect exterminated. To prevent recurrences of a similar Idnd, decrees were issued by the sovereigns of Western Europe against all who refused to accept the Christian faith as understood by the 'Catholic hierarchy. Where the domination of the Papal authority was displaced, as in England under Retire it was superseded by the royal authority, not less intolerant. Thus we find Henry V111. per secuting those who, on the one hand, acknowl edged spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and those, on the other hand. xvlio, while acknowledging henry's supremacy as head of the English Church, yet denied certain of the Roman dogmas. Nor did the Reformation introduce the principle of religious liberty into Europe. For, while the Protestant denied the authority and much of the doctrines of Rome, he nevertheless insisted upon unity of faith as essential to the integrity of the State. According to the maxim Cujus regio, cujus rcligio, it was the right and duty of the prince to choose a religion for his subjects and require them to worship it. It followed that it Was hi, duty to root out heresy and punish non-conformists, Thus Servet Its' was burnt at the stake in Geneva, which was under Cal•in's control, for denying the doctrine of the Trinity; the Covenanters were hunted down and slain because they could neither accept Episcopacy nor the National Kirk; and the Pilgrims emi grated to the wilds of America because they would not conform to the Anglican faith. The theory then obtained was that. religion and morality being the basis of the State. it became the first duty of a wise prince to estab lish a nathinal religion. and it was believed that the existence of two religions in the State would endanger its security.