Freedom and Power, Balancing Faith and Truth in Liberty

From the introduction to Essays on Freedom and Power,  Lord Acton:

The differences between Acton and the conventional Catholic liberal like Maritain — to say nothing of the Ultramontane Manning — are significant even on the basis of Acton's early articles. In his later work the differences are much sharper and the points of contact between the two are fewer. Acton considered that he had “renounced everything in Catholicism which was not compatible with Liberty, and everything in Politics which was not compatible with Catholicity.” The sentiment is pious but unpersuasive. Another of his maxims may be cited against him: “We may pursue several objects, we may weave many principles, but we cannot have two courts of final appeal.” In fact, when the two conflicted, Acton set liberalism above Catholicism, and this was more and more true as time went on.

We should all seek to place truth ahead of faith, even the devout among us, for we might reach an equilibrium between the two, and peaceful coexistence which promotes liberty for and from religion and the state.

Freedom and Power - Religion and the State

From Acton: Freedom and Power:

Catholic persecution, Acton argued, had had a practical motive; it had been based on the idea that dissent threatened the moral fabric of Christian society.

From that idea, Acton's view applies equally to both state and religion in terms of coercive social order. They are one in the same. The protestant movement sought to force religion and compliance to it upon the individual through the state and law.