Richard Price's Beliefs

During his lifetime Richard price became one of the most celebrated men of the nineteenth century and it was for good reason. Though he was respected and valued by his peers, there were some who despised and hated his beliefs. For most he was a leading voice of freedom while those who did loathe him thought he was a threatening radical who questioned the foundations of constitutional monarchy. Price was an ardent supporter of all forms of liberty, Religious, Civil, or Individual. This would put him at the forefront for gaining these freedoms. And this was not only in his country but more importantly in France and the United States of America, where he was very supportive in his support for the revolutionaries in those countries. This would
On liberty of conscience, Price wrote in Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, “I include much more than toleration…. Not only all Christians but all men of all religions ought to be considered by a state as equally entitled to its protection as far as they demean themselves honestly and peaceably.” In a political context, to “tolerate” religious beliefs and practices is sheer presumption, because it implies that a government grants religious freedom to people as a privilege, favor, or for reasons of state. In contrast, Price insisted that liberty of conscience is a natural and inalienable right that governments have a duty to respect. It is a sphere over which governments have no legitimate jurisdiction, so it is not something they can choose to tolerate or not. (Richard Price
He would start publication on Review of the Principal Questions in Morals that year and it would encompass his theory of ethics. He would promote balanced thoughts on moral decisions that were grounded on a person’s conscience and reason. He was not of the belief like normal Christians who lived there life based on the thought of sin and eternal damn nation. “There are in truth none who are possessed of that cool and dispassionate temper, that freedom from all wrong biases, that habit of attention and patience of thought, and, also, that penetration and sagacity of mind, which are the proper securities against error. How much then do modesty and diffidence become us? How ought we to be to conviction, and candid to those of different sentiments?” (Price Sermon????) Richard Price felt that his duty as a dissenting minister was as important a duty that he could possibly be doing. He would say “He considered any time not spent at his ministry as being a dereliction of his duty”. ( ) Review of the Principal Questions of Morals was exactly as it sounds, it was a collection of the many interpretations on ethics and