Summary
RELIGION is the moral compass of human progress. By practicing religion, men and women learn to be self-disciplined, moral, responsible, civil, and charitable. Religion helps foster civil society, which, in turn, helps maintain order and limit the scope of government (see Limited Government). For these reasons, among many, government should allow religion to flourish.
Government should permit the free exercise of religion so long as one’s religious opinions do not “prompt them to infringe upon the rights and liberties of others.” Government should not “prescribe[e] rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion,” nor should it favor one religious society over another. It “should restrain crime, but never control conscience; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul.” (D&C 134:4, 9-10)
In short, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may” (Articles of Faith 1:11).
Quotes from the Brethren
Official Church Statement on religious freedom–
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Dallin H. Oaks–
Surely the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion was intended to grant more freedom to religious action than to other kinds of action. Treating actions based on religious belief the same as actions based on other systems of belief should not be enough to satisfy the special place of religion in the United States Constitution. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Religious Freedom,” Oct. 13, 2009)
Joseph Smith–
But meddle not with any man for his religion: all governments ought to permit every man to enjoy his religion unmolested. No man is authorized to take away life in consequence of difference of religion, which all laws and governments ought to tolerate and protect, right or wrong. Every man has a natural, and, in our country, a constitutional right to be a false prophet, as well as a true prophet. (King Follett Sermon, April 7, 1844)
Quotes from the Founders
Benjamin Franklin–
That wise Men have in all Ages thought Government necessary for the Good of Mankind; and, that wise Governments have always thought Religion necessary for the well ordering and well-being of Society, and accordingly have been ever careful to encourage and protect the Ministers of it, paying them the highest publick Honours, that their Doctrines might thereby meet with the greater Respect among the common People. (Franklin, Benjamin On that Odd Letter of the Drum, April, 1730)
Thomas Paine–
The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. (Paine, Thomas Common Sense, 1776)
State of Virginia–
[R]eligion, or the duty which we owe to our creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and this is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other. (Virginia Bill of Rights, Article 16 June 12, 1776)
Thomas Jefferson–
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. (Jefferson, Thomas Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17 1782)
James Madison–
The civil rights of none, shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed. (Madison, James proposed amendment to the Constitution, given in a speech in the House of Representatives, 1789)
George Washington–
We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States. (Washington, George letter to the Members of the New Church in Baltimore January 27, 1793)
Speeches and Other Resources
- Dallin H. Oaks, “Religious Freedom,” Oct. 13, 2009
- James E. Faust, “A New Civil Religion,” Ensign, Oct. 1992, 69
- Dallin H. Oaks, “Religious Values & Public Policy,” Ensign, 1992
- M. Russell Ballard, “Religion in a Free Society,” Ensign, 1992
- Dallin H. Oaks, “Religion in Public Life,” Ensign, July 1990, 7
- The Williamsburg Charter, 1998
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