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White Paper

Freedom of Conscience: Protecting our moral compass

The right to freedom of conscience protects the right to live in accordance with our deeply held beliefs. Despite being protected by every major human rights treaty, this right is poorly understood and undermined. This white paper has six main parts: Chapter 1 highlights what conscience is and why it must be protected. Chapter 2 outlines the robust protections found in law for rights of conscience, while Chapter 3 presents how to recognize conscience claims. Chapter 4 puts forward three options for protecting conscience claims in practice, once recognized, ranging from protecting conscience as a mirror image of freedom of religion or belief to absolute protection. Chapter 5 demonstrates the need for a better approach by highlighting areas in which freedom of conscience is under attack. The paper concludes with recommendations on strengthening conscience protections.

Statement of Faith

Based on our adherence to the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God in Scripture, we profess with the Christian Church throughout time and around the world the faith expressed in the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.