Man's response to God must be free, but not in the sense of anarchical freedom, but freedom as a gift of obedience and adherance to God's Law. The laws of God have come to us from the Prophet Moses and the other Hebrew Prophets. They are passed along through all Abrahamic Faiths.
No one should be forced to embrace the faith without his or her will. There should be no Inquisitions and the Inquisition was a sad and harrowing time for the Catholic Faith. Times have changed and the Catholic Faith is much less repressive and much more forgiving.
In our freedom, sometimes we all make mistakes and sin. This is the role of The Church among other roles; to encourage but not force people to be free from sin. God calls man to serve him in both spirit and truth. Consequently we are bound to God in consience, not through coersion.
And this fact met its fullest manifestation in the person of Christ. Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them in any way. For he bore witness to the truth but refused to force or impose against those who spoke against it. And this is not some flaw that led to his demise, but a graceful gift of the Father who spoke through to Son, Christ Jesus.
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