Why Is Democracy Necessary?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns democracy and its ability to preserve freedom. The president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dallin H. Oaks has long discussed importance of democracy, and he chose to focus on the same message in his first address as president of the Church of Jesus Christ. His message on Easter Sunday is that “peace and democratic freedoms, especially in times of conflict, require believers to extend Christ’s love to their opponents, even across vast differences in values and beliefs.”

Mariya Manzhos reported on President Oaks’ message in her article at the Deseret News. 

President Oaks also continued the theme of his predecessor, President Russell M. Nelson, calling believers to be peacemakers – those who “seek to reduce human suffering” and those who “work to promote understanding among different peoples.”

President Oaks described the current climate as “toxic” and “a time of contempt or hostility toward adversaries.” This kind of “hostility,” he said, is spreading across society, and involves “many whose Christian beliefs should orient them otherwise.”

Christ’s teaching, which the church’s leader described as “revolutionary,” is to extend love not only to the neighbors, but also to the enemies, whom President Oaks identified as “military foes” and those in direct conflict with one another. “Today we might say that we are commanded to love our adversaries,” he said.

The church’s leader has himself demonstrated a way of finding common ground in Utah politics. He played a key role in shaping the Utah Compromise in 2015, helping broker an agreement between religious groups and LGBTQ advocates, and supported a framework that paired protections for same-sex couples in housing and employment with safeguards for religious liberty – an agreement that became a national model for balancing competing rights.

In his Sunday address, he said: “As followers of Christ, we should seek to live peaceably and lovingly with other children of God who do not share our values and do not have the covenant obligations we have assumed. In a democratic government we should seek ‘fairness for all.’ In countless circumstances, strangers’ suspicion or even hostility gradually give way to friendship when personal contacts produce mutual respect.” …

In a new leadership position, Oaks is showing that there is no distinction between being Christ-like in personal life and being Christ-like in civic life, Rauch said.

President Oaks acknowledged just how hard reconciling the requirements of the church and civic life can be. “We balance our various responsibilities, this balancing is not easy,” Oaks said….

In President Oaks’ view, by contrast, the Constitution guarantees a shared civic space.