Freedom – with Boundaries 65the elementary rights of people, for instance the freedom of conscience,
of religion or of free speech.^34 The other concept is the collision con-
cept. It refers to a possible crash clash between the different freedom
claims of individuals and states as a rule that the exercise of the individ-
ual’s freedom is limited by the freedom of the other. From that perspec-
tive there is no other restriction of freedom allowed than only a re-
striction for the sake of freedom. Or to phrase it differently: there is no
other limit to freedom than freedom. This concept limits the intervention
of the state into personal freedom to the extent that is needed to defend
this freedom. But it is necessary that nobody is exempted from the rule
of law. That those in political or economic power are subjected to the
law, is a decisive criterion for the existence of a just society.
However the collision model, as well as the public order model, is
based very often on the expansive concept of negative freedom. Both
presuppose a kind of absolute freedom, freedom without restrictions,
without boundaries.
4.7.3 Boundaries of Freedom – a Trinitarian Approach
A German song by Reinhard Mey includes the line, “Above the
clouds freedom must be limitless.” Without saying it explicitly, this im-
plies that under the clouds freedom is limited. Reinhard Mey's song is
not a theological text. However, it can be interpreted theologically.
“Above the clouds” refers to the “father in heaven”, to God’s boundless
creative freedom. “Under the clouds” refers to the creatures on earth, to
the limited, created freedom of human beings. The finite character of our
freedom is so elementary that we often do not think of. As creatures we
are natural, corporeal entities. Our freedom does not include the possi-
bility to be at different places at the same time. The exercise of our free-
dom is not “absolute”. It is bound to concrete conditions. Nobody de-
cides about the place and the time of his or her birth or of his or her
34
I heard some people evaluate the events during the opening of the South Afri-
can Parliament on 12 February 2015 in this direction.