 Rawls’s interpretation of the idea that citizens are free is as follows. Citizens are free in that each sees herself as being entitled to make claims on social institutions in her own right—citizens are not slaves or serfs, dependent for their social status on others. Citizens are also free in that they see their public identities as independent of any particular comprehensive doctrine: a citizen who converts to Islam, or who recants her faith, will expect, for example, to retain all her political rights and liberties throughout the transition. Finally, citizens are free in being able to take responsibility for planning their own lives, given the opportunities and resources that they can reasonably expect.