It is commonly understood that religious liberty is simply the liberty to practice the teachings of an organized, institutional religion. Religious liberty belongs to the conscience of the individual. Once religious liberty is bound to an institution, it ceases to be true liberty and becomes a conditional privilege—granted or withdrawn at the discretion of those who hold authority.

Institutional religion concentrates power in it's leaders, which results in the suppression of individual conscience.

What is true religious liberty then? It is when a person has the liberty to exercise their religious practices in harmony with their personal convictions, in a way that does not restrict others from having the same liberty.

Whilst liberty of conscience and religious liberty are linked, they are not the same. The conscience is the sacred place of the heart/mind that convicts a person on the morality of a matter; and how they should respond to it. The conscience can thus inform religious expression. We can see this reflected in a passage of scripture, "And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even to the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst" – John 8:9, KJV

Liberty of conscience is the basis of all other freedoms that exist in the world. If a person is restricted in their religious liberty it naturally implies they are restricted in their liberty of conscience.

These two liberties, liberty of conscience, and religious liberty, are the fundamental basis of all other freedoms in this world. At the compromise of these two liberties, all freedom in the world is lost. These are thus precisely the freedoms most targeted and undermined.

The Liberty Herald International proposes that these two liberties have been so attacked, as to threaten their total destruction. Organisations like the United Nations, to which the whole world has joined herself, attempt to rule and control the liberties of every individual in the world, that they may achieve their agenda.

Whilst they enlist every power in the world to destroy individual's freedoms, they say that they are protecting the rights and freedoms of all. They say they uphold liberty whilst attacking two fundamental liberties. While they say that a person has rights and freedoms, they make these rights of none effect.

The chief UN instrument meant to uphold the liberty of all people around the world is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After listing the freedoms and rights that should be afforded to mankind, the instrument ends with stripping all rights and freedoms. In article 29.2 – 29.3 of the International Declaration of Human Rights;

29. 2 "In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society."

29. 3 "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

How to Retain True Liberty.

The Bible states, "If the Son therefore make you free, ye shall be free indeed." – John 8:36, KJV

Through surrender to the Son of God a person obtains the chief of all liberties: liberty of conscience. The Son, Jesus, is the truth (John 14:6) and brings the truth that sets a person free (John 8:32).

With a full realisation of what is true, an individual can have a conscience that is free from being bound to any individual or any institution, even when all their other freedoms have been denied.

S. E. de Bruyn