Religion & Law

Yesterday in my Catholic Jurisprudence class, we discussed Cardinal Dulles' essay "Truth as the Ground of Freedom" (in Catholic Perspectives on American Law).  During the discussion, I suggested that the concept of "freedom from" authority is illusory because all freedom is exercised "for" some good as directed by a criteria external to freedom itself.  I might, for example,  choose to act according to my understanding of the moral law and to act in such a way that I develop habits that make it easier for me to so act.  Or, I might act according to the dictates of my passions (or the strongest passion at the moment).  In both cases, I am placing myself under some authority - either the authority of the moral law or the authority of my strongest passion -  and exercising my freedom "for" some good, whether it be the good dictated by the moral law or the good achieved in satisfying that passion.

What do you think?  Am I missing something in my analysis?  Comments are open.