In an essay published as part of the Academy of Ideas’ Letters for Liberty series, I write that we must not simply defend conscience from overt censorship, but champion it as a bulwark against groupthink and moral conformism.
From debates about abortion to Black Lives Matter, Brexit to gay cakes, there is little belief that some deeper questions are best given space away from the hurly-burly of politics – even if that’s never easy in practice. Conscience is not an alternative to public debate, but an invaluable supplement to it, and one we should cherish – not even when it challenges a moral and political consensus, but especially when it does.
Dolan Cummings 