The Church teaches as a fundamental truth that as human beings we are created in the image and likeness of God, with a free will. Our very dignity rests in our ability to freely choose to return God’s love and share it with others. Without freedom of choice, moral action would be impossible, as would any hope of the common good. The action of love itself, our highest calling as children of God redeemed by Christ, is freely choosing the good of another. Love—by its very definition—cannot be forced.
The Catechism states “Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility. By free will one shapes one’s own life” (CCC 1731). It goes on to say, “Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative” (1883).
Recent measures announced by the current administration regarding the free choice of individuals in relation to COVID-19 bring into sharp relief the Church’s teaching on free will, human choice, and their relation to our human dignity. Should people, who are created in God’s image and who possess intellect and free will, be coerced, shamed, or forced into making a personal medical choice?
In this lesson your students will:
Explore what it means to have free will as men and women created in the image and likeness of God.
Discuss the relationship between human choice and responsibility.
Explore how free will is necessary for moral action.
Discuss whether government coercion serves the common good or diminishes it.
Begin by telling the story of a man who was forced to rob a bank at gunpoint. Be sure to explain that the man did not want to rob the bank, and he only did it because he was forced. Ask the class: has this man committed a mortal sin in this situation? No. Why not? Because he was forced to do it, he was not responsible for it.
Explain that we are responsible for our actions that are freely chosen. When we are coerced, or if we are ignorant of something being wrong (e.g., if we break a traffic law unknowingly, or honestly do not realize something is a sin), we are not responsible for these actions.
The above principle will likely be readily understood by students. Now turn the situation around to ask about being forced to do good.
Ask: if I am forced by law to give my money to charity, and this law is my only reason for doing it, is my action virtuous? No. Why not? Because, as we just said, we are responsible for our actions that are freely chosen. We read in the Catechism that “Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly belong to him” (1745).
Conclude that without free will, there can be no such thing as morality.
Have the class brainstorm actions that are morally good. Keep a list on the board. Go over the list together and try to discover how many of the good things are required by law.
Then ask your class, should everything the government believes is good be required under penalty of law? If not, why not? Keep a list of reasons on the board. Include the following points in the course of the discussion:
The government’s value system may be wrong; it may assert bad things to be good, such as abortion, euthanasia, slavery, etc.
The government may be honestly mistaken that something is bad is good, for example, cigarettes, certain medications we later learned had devastating side effects, certain sugars and processed oils, etc. or that something good is bad, for example natural fats, certain proteins, that were discouraged but we later learned were healthy etc.
Even if something is truly good, in a free society individuals must be able to freely choose it. The military draft requires all men aged 18-25 who are U.S. citizens or are immigrants living in the U.S. to be registered with Selective Service. If they refuse, they could be denied federal student loan aid, job training, a federal job, or citizenship, facing possible prosecution, a large fine, and/or jail time. The draft must allow for conscientious objectors in order to be considered just. In other words, the government can only justly require selective service, or initiate the military draft, by respecting the freedom of choice of individuals who object to military service for reasons of religion, conscience, or ethics.
As human beings created in the image and likeness of God, our dignity is intimately tied to our free will. If we cannot freely choose to pursue the good, then we cannot be virtuous. The law can punish and prevent wrongdoing, but it cannot make people virtuous. Virtue can only be cultivated by the free, willing, and habitual choice of the individual person.
8. Then emphasize this last point: even if something is truly good, it may not be the right choice for someone at the time. For example:
Marriage is good, but an individual may not have a vocation to marriage.
Religious life is good, but an individual may not have a vocation to religious life.
Farming is good, but an individual may not be a talented farmer.
Sports are good, but an individual may not be athletically-inclined.
Broccoli is good, but an individual may strongly dislike it and prefer lima beans.
In life, we will not only have to choose between good and bad; we will often necessarily choose from among many different goods. Prudence is the virtue that allows us to discern the true good in any situation. (CCC 1806).
Put the students in pairs and have them complete the Handout Free to Choose the Good together.
After a few moments, reconvene the class and share responses as a large group. Try to keep the class focused on the issue at hand. This activity is not asking whether the Covid vaccine is a good or bad choice. This activity is prompting the question of whether it is possible to believe a choice to be good, but that it should not be forced under penalty of law with no exemptions?
Optional Enrichment:
To further the discussion and deepen understanding, you may wish to show your students the video Are Vaccine Mandates Ethical? from edify.us, which can be found at the following link: SophiaOnline.Org/VaccineMandates. After playing the video, ask your students to share their thoughts and impressions as you guide a conversation on the importance of choice and informed consent when making personal medical decisions as a free citizen.
