Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1837-1901; Liberalism -- Great Britain
I do not pretend that this delimitation solves all problems. The
"inward" life will seek to express itself in outward acts. A religious
ordinance may bid the devout refuse military service, or withhold the
payment of a tax, or decline to submit a building to inspection. Here
are external matters where conscience and the State come into direct
conflict, and where is the court of appeal that is to decide between
them? In any given case the right, as judged by the ultimate effect on
human welfare, may, of course, be on the one side, or on the other, or
between the two. But is there anything to guide the two parties as long
as each believes itself to be in the right and sees no ground for
waiving its opinion? To begin with, clearly the State does well to avoid
such conflicts by substituting alternatives. Other duties than that of
military service may be found for a follower of Tolstoy, and as long as
he is willing to take his full share of burdens the difficulty is fairly
met. Again, the mere convenience of the majority cannot be fairly
weighed against the religious convictions of the few. It might be
convenient that certain public work should be done on Saturday, but mere
convenience would be an insufficient ground for compelling Jews to
participate in it. Religious and ethical conviction must be weighed
against religious and ethical conviction. It is not number that counts
morally, but the belief that is reasoned out according to the best of
one's lights as to the necessities of the common good. But the
conscience of the community has its rights just as much as the
conscience of the individual. If we are convinced that the inspection of
a convent laundry is required in the interest, not of mere official
routine, but of justice and humanity, we can do nothing but insist upon
it, and when all has been done that can be done to save the individual
conscience the common conviction of the common good must have its way.
In the end the external order belongs to the community, and the right of
protest to the individual.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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