Society Needs To Hear from People of Faith

 

The Eternal Importance of Religious Freedom

By Michael R. Morris

Church Magazines

Elder Christofferson concurs: “Values we once shared with the great majority of our fellow citizens are now often considered outdated, naive, and sometimes even bigoted. Because a society’s deepest values drive law and public policy, and because those values in many Western nations are now almost entirely secular, government is increasingly enforcing secular values at the expense of religious ones. And society itself—even without the force of government—can ostracize, stigmatize, and discriminate against religious believers in overt and subtle ways, leaving people of faith marginalized and sometimes even despised.”⁸

Religion and Self-Governance

“One of the reasons the attack on moral and religious principles has been so successful is the reluctance of people of faith to express their views,” said Elder Cook. “Extraordinary effort will be required to protect religious liberty. Our doctrine confirms what the U.S. founding fathers and political philosophers have advocated [see Doctrine and Covenants 134:2].”¹⁵

What they have advocated, President Oaks taught, is the central role religion plays in developing self-governance: “Our society is not held together primarily by law and its enforcement, but most importantly by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internalized norms of righteous or correct behavior. Religious belief in right and wrong is a vital influence to produce such voluntary compliance by a large number of our citizens.”

Precious Gifts from God

By President M. Russell Ballard

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, the Lord can help us remove the mountains of discouragement and doubt in the tasks ahead of us as we serve with God’s children, including family members, Church members, and those who are not yet members of the Church....

If we do not find time to unplug, we may miss opportunities to hear the voice of Him who said, “Be still, and know that I am God.”8 Now, there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the advances in the technologies inspired by the Lord, but we must be wise in their use. Remember the gift of the Sabbath day.

The blessing of receiving the sacrament in sacrament meeting must never become routine or just something we do. It is only 70 minutes in a whole week when we can pause and find more peace, joy, and happiness in our lives....

Church members—both men and women—should not hesitate, if they desire, to run for public office at any level of government wherever they live. Our voices are essential today and important in our schools, our cities, and our countries. Where democracy exists, it is our duty as members to vote for honorable men and women who are willing to serve.

Religious Belief is Vital

The Vital Influence of Religious Belief

“Our society is not held together primarily by law and its enforcement, but most importantly by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internalized norms of righteous or correct behavior. Religious belief in right and wrong is a vital influence to produce such voluntary compliance by a large number of our citizens.”

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Strengthening the Free Exercise of Religion,” address given at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Canterbury Medal Dinner, New York City, May 16, 2013, 1; available at mormonnewsroom.org.

Moral Order

• JULY 2015
• RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT

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Religion and Government

By Elder Wilford W. Andersen

Of the Seventy

Societies depend in large part upon religion and churches to establish moral order. Government can never build enough jails to house the criminals produced by a society lacking in morality, character, and faith. These attributes are better encouraged by religious observance than by legislative decree or police force. It is impossible for government to control the attitudes, desires, and hopes that spring from the human heart. And yet these are the seeds that grow into the conduct government must regulate.

Civility in society is achieved when the majority of people do what is moral because they believe they should, not because they are compelled by law or by police force.

Government oversees the conduct of its citizens. It tries to get them to behave in a decent and moral way. Religion, on the other hand, tries to get them to desire to behave in a decent and moral way. 

Our Constitution

 “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

In Charles Francis Adams, ed., The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, 10 vols. (1850-56), 9:229.

Religion and Govenment

 “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. . . . Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion or religion principle.

“It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”

Washington’s Farewell Address, ed. Thomas Arkle Clark (1908), 14.