The Liberalism practiced in Cdl. Newman's day is the very same Liberalism we see today. So we thought we'd post his points as a help to those of you who are swimming in an ocean of the stuff. Newman was primarily concerned with the religious 'liberalism,' but note that it bleeds over into the political.
1. No religious tenet is important, unless reason shows it to be so.
Therefore, e.g. the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed is not to be
insisted on, unless it tends to convert the soul; and the doctrine
of the Atonement is to be insisted on, if it does convert the soul.
2. No one can believe what he does not understand.
Therefore, e.g. there are no mysteries in true religion.
3. No theological doctrine is any thing more than an opinion which
happens to be held by bodies of men.
Therefore, e.g. no creed, as such, is necessary for salvation.
4. It is dishonest in a man to make an act of faith in what he has
not had brought home to him by actual proof.
Therefore, e.g. the mass of men ought not absolutely to believe
in the divine authority of the Bible.
5. It is immoral in a man to believe more than he can spontaneously
receive as being congenial to his moral and mental nature.
Therefore, e.g. a given individual is not bound to believe in
eternal punishment. {295}
6. No revealed doctrines or precepts may reasonably stand in the way
of scientific conclusions.
Therefore, e.g. Political Economy may reverse our Lord's
declarations about poverty and riches, or a system of Ethics may
teach that the highest condition of body is ordinarily essential to
the highest state of mind.
7. Christianity is necessarily modified by the growth of
civilization, and the exigencies of times.
Therefore, e.g. the Catholic priesthood, though necessary in the
Middle Ages, may be superseded now.
8. There is a system of religion more simply true than Christianity
as it has ever been received.
Therefore, e.g. we may advance that Christianity is the
"corn of wheat " which has been dead for 1800 years, but
at length will bear fruit; and that Mahometanism is the manly
religion, and existing Christianity the womanish.
9. There is a right of Private Judgment: that is, there is no
existing authority on earth competent to interfere with the liberty of
individuals in reasoning and judging for themselves about the Bible and
its contents, as they severally please.
Therefore, e.g. religious establishments requiring subscription
are Anti-christian.
10. There are rights of conscience such, that every one may lawfully
advance a claim to profess and teach what is false and wrong in matters,
religious, social, and moral, provided that to his private conscience it
seems absolutely true and right.
Therefore, e.g. individuals have a right to preach and practise
fornication and polygamy.
11. There is no such thing as a national or state conscience.
Therefore, e.g. no judgments can fall upon a sinful or infidel
nation. {296}
12. The civil power has no positive duty, in a normal state of
things, to maintain religious truth.
Therefore, e.g. blasphemy and sabbath-breaking are not rightly
punishable by law.
13. Utility and expedience are the measure of political duty.
Therefore, e.g. no punishment may be enacted, on the ground that
God commands it: e.g. on the text, "Whoso sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
14. The Civil Power may dispose of Church property without sacrilege.
Therefore, e.g. Henry VIII. committed no sin in his spoliations.
15. The Civil Power has the right of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and
administration.
Therefore, e.g. Parliament may impose articles of faith on the
Church or suppress Dioceses.
16. It is lawful to rise in arms against legitimate princes.
Therefore, e.g. the Puritans in the 17th century, and the French
in the 18th, were justifiable in their Rebellion and Revolution
respectively.
17. The people are the legitimate source of power.
Therefore, e.g. Universal Suffrage is among the natural rights of
man.
18. Virtue is the child of knowledge, and vice of ignorance.
Therefore, e.g. education, periodical literature, railroad
travelling, ventilation, drainage, and the arts of life, when fully
carried out, serve to make a population moral and happy.
