Researchers, historians and writers on Opus Dei have said that Opus Dei has a novel approach to political matters whereby Christians are free and personally responsible in temporal affairs. They have seen that Opus Dei members follow Escrivá's teachings: "There are no dogmas in temporal matters." "Respect for its members' freedom is an essential condition for Opus Dei's very existence," says Escrivá. "If Opus Dei had been involved in politics, even for an instant," he once wrote, "in that moment of error I would have left Opus Dei." (Le Tourneau 1989, p. 49)