Is there a difference between freedom and liberty?
Often the words freedom and liberty are used interchangably. From time to time, they may carry with them different connotations or distictive definitions based on an author’s intent.
Typically, if a distinction is drawn, freedom is typically tied to a person’s belief or feeling about their circumstances.
In contrast, liberty is typically tied to a person’s ability to perform certain actions.
Some progressives might say that “We want to protect freedom to worship”.
This may sound good, but a freedom to believe something or worship is something is quite different than the liberty to act on those beliefs.
For example, you may have the freedom to believe that “Jesus is the only way”.
However, as currently exists in many countries, you do not have the liberty to share that belief with others.