Redemptor Hominis
An encyclical of John Paul II on Christ the redeemer of man, dated 4 March 1979, in the first year of his pontificate. Its seventeenth section treats religious freedom as a human right and objects to systems that give only atheism a place in public life.
The encyclical’s theme is Christ as the redeemer of man. Section 11 speaks of atheism in its various forms, beginning with the atheism that is organised as a political system. Section 17, on human rights, appeals to the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on religious freedom and says that to curtail the religious freedom of persons and communities is an attack on human dignity whatever religion they profess. It is hard to accept, the pope writes, a position that gives only atheism the right of citizenship in public and social life while believers are barely tolerated, treated as second-class citizens or deprived of their rights as citizens.
Cited in
- 1978 to 1979, firm date