The liberty
principle for this Freedom Friday is the important of protecting the religious
freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Religious organizations, along with their religious teachings, are vital
to a free society; they deserve the special freedom guaranteed by the
Constitution.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is just one of many religious leaders who stand up in defense
of religious freedom. For his support of
this First Amendment right, Elder Oaks received the Canterbury Medal - the highest
honor bestowed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty – at a program held on May
16, 2013, in the Pierre Hotel on New York’s Fifth Avenue. He affirmed in a speech following the award that
religious groups should unite to protect the religious freedom guaranteed by
the U.S. Constitution.
The Canterbury Medal received
its name from the cathedral where Thomas A. Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury,
was martyred for his defense of religious freedom by the knights loyal to Henry
II, King of England. This medal is
presented to champions of religious liberty each year. Elder Oaks was recognized for his “lifetime
commitment to religious liberty for all.”
Elder Oaks was introduced as “one
of the great defenders of religious liberty” by Cardinal Francis George and recognized
as such by more than 500 religious leaders, lawyers and financial supporters
attending the annual black tie dinner and fundraising event. The funds are for the litigation efforts of
the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit public-interest law firm
with the goal “to protect the free expression of all religious traditions
through strategic litigation.”
The Becket Fund is helping to
defend Hobby Lobby, a for-profit company owned by Steve and Jackie Green. The Green family attempts to use Christian
principles in running their business and dealing with their employees. The company is fighting the Obamacare mandate
to violate their religious beliefs or pay more than $1 million in fines each
day.
Elder Oaks spoke about how the
robust private sector of charitable works in the United States was started and
continued by religious organizations and religious impulses. Education, hospitals, and care for the poor
are included in those charitable works.
He also spoke about how religious principles and leaders have motivated
and advanced important moral issues in the Western world, such as the abolition
of the slave trade in England, the Emancipation Proclamation in the U.S., and
the Civil Rights movement.
Elder Oaks noted, “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.”
Later in his talk, Elder Oaks
noted that “the guarantee of freedom of religion is the first expression in the
Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution, and it is embodied in the
constitutions of all 50 of our states.
For many Americans, the free exercise of religion is the basic civil liberty
because faith in God and His teachings and the active practice of religion are
the most fundamental guiding realities of life.”
Elder Oaks has spoken about
religious freedom at numerous times and in several places. In a speech given at BYU-Idaho on October 13, 2009, Elder Oaks began with an explanation: “In choosing my subject I have relied on an
old military maxim that when there is a battle underway, persons who desire to
join the fray should `march to the sound of the guns.’ So it is that I invite you to march with me
as I speak about religious freedom under the United States Constitution. There is a battle over the meaning of that
freedom. The contest is of eternal
importance, and it is your generation that must understand the issues and make
the efforts to prevail.
“An
1833 revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Lord established
the United States Constitution by wise men whom he raised up for that very
purpose (Doctrine and Covenants 101:80).
The Lord also declared that this Constitution `should be maintained for
the rights and protection of all flesh
(Doctrine and Covenants 101:77; emphasis added).
“In
1833, when almost all people in the world were still ruled by kings or tyrants,
few could see how the infant United States Constitution could be divinely
designed `for the rights and protection of all flesh.’ Today, 176 years after that revelation,
almost every nation in the world has adopted a written constitution, and the
United States Constitution profoundly influenced all of them. Truly, this nation’s most important export is
its constitution, whose great principles stand as a model `for the rights and protection
of all flesh.’ On the vital human right
of religious freedom, however, many constitutions fall short of the protections
that are needed, so we are grateful that the United States government seeks to
encourage religious freedom all over the world.
[Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad to
the Secretary of State and to the President of the United States, 17 May 1999,
6-7, 30-65. The International Religious
Freedom Act, adopted in 1998, 22 USC 6401 et seq., established an office of
international religious affairs in the U.S. State Department headed by an
Ambassador at Large and the U.S. Commission for International Religious
Freedom. Both of these bodies submit annual reports that assess the status of religious
freedom under international standards worldwide and help encourage better
implementation of commitments countries around the world have made to respect
this fundamental right.]”
I
found the above reference very interesting:
The International Religious Freedom Act was adopted in 1998, and “an
office of international religious affairs” was established in the U.S. Department
of State. This office and the U.S. Commission
for International Religious Freedom were each charged with submitting annual reports
about religious freedom. How different
it is under the Obama Administration when our own government is threatening our
religious freedom!
Elder Oaks also spoke at Chapman University School of Law on February 4, 2011, about preserving religious freedom. “I am here to speak of the state of religious
freedom in the United States, why it seems to be diminishing, and what can be
done about it.
“…
I am here to contend for religious freedom.
I am here to describe fundamental principles that I hope will be
meaningful for decades to come.
“I
believe you will find no unique Mormon doctrine in what I say. My sources are law and secular history. I will quote the words of Catholic,
Evangelical Christian, and Jewish leaders, among others. I am convinced that on this issue what all
believers have in common is far more important than their differences. We must unite to strengthen our freedom to
teach and exercise what we have in common, as well as our very real differences
in religious doctrine.
“I
begin with a truth that is increasingly challenged: Religious teachings and religious
organizations are valuable and important to our free society and therefore
deserving of special legal protection. I
will cite a few examples….
“My
final example of the importance of religion in our country concerns the origin
of the Constitution. Its formation over
200 years ago was made possible by religious principles of human worth and
dignity, and only those principles in the hearts of a majority of our diverse
population can sustain that Constitution today.
I submit that religious values and political realities are so
interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose
the influence of religion in our public life without seriously jeopardizing our
freedoms.
“Unfortunately,
the extent and nature of religious devotion in this nation is changing. Belief in a personal God who defines right
and wrong is challenged by many. `By
some counts,’ an article in The Economist
declares, `there are at least 500 [million] declared non-believers in the
world – enough to make atheism the fourth-biggest religion.’ Others who do not consider themselves
atheists also reject the idea of a supernatural power but affirm the existence
of some impersonal force and the value of compassion and love and justice.
“Organized
religion is surely on the decline. Last
year’s Pew Forum Study on Religion and Public Life found that the percentage of
young adults affiliated with a particular religious faith is declining
significantly. Scholars Robert Putnam
and David Campbell have concluded that `the prospects for religious observance
in the coming decades are substantially diminished.’
“Whatever
the extent of formal religious affiliation I believe that the tide of public
opinion in favor of religion is receding….
“A
visible measure of the decline of religion in our public life is the diminished
mention of religious faith and references to God in our public discourse. One has only to compare the current rhetoric
with the major addresses of our political leaders in the 18th, 19th,
and the first part of the 20th centuries. Similarly, compare what Lincoln said about
God and religious practices like prayer on key occasions with the edited
versions of his remarks quoted in current history books. It is easy to believe that there is an
informal conspiracy of correctness to scrub out references to God and the
influence of religion in the founding and preservation of our nation.”
I
am sure that you can see by the few quotes from three different addresses that
Elder Oaks is a great defender of religious freedom. He reminds us of the
importance of standing firm on our religious principles and being steadfast and
immovable in defending religious freedom.
I believe that he very much
deserves to be recognized with the Canterbury Medal!
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