What Is the Connection Between Religious Freedom and Moral Agency?

The topic of discussion for this Freedom Monday concerns the connection between religious freedom and moral agency. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that we all lived with Heavenly Father in the spirit world as His spirit sons and daughters before the creation of this world. While we were in His presence, our Father gave moral agency, or the freedom to choose, to each of us. We brought that moral agency with us into mortality.

Heavenly Father taught us about His plan for the eternal happiness of His children. This plan included a period of instruction and experiences available only in mortality. According to His plan, each of us would leave His presence for a few years of life on earth. There we would be instructed and have experiences to prepare us for eternal life with Him.

Heavenly Father wants each of us to return to Him, but He does not want to force us to return to His presence. The purpose of giving us moral agency is to give us the right and power to choose for ourselves. He wants us to choose Him and His ways freely – His light, truth, and goodness -- without any compulsion.

Moral agency is essential to God’s plan for our happiness. Satan sought to destroy this agency, and he was cast out of God’s presence (see Moses 4:3). On the other hand, Jesus Christ supported Heavenly Father’s plan and became the Savior of the world. Heavenly Father knew that we would make mistakes and commit sins while in mortality, and He provided a way for us to overcome our mistakes and repent of our sins so that we could return to His presence.

According to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ and this site, Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice make it possible for each of us to use our moral agency to choose God (see 2 Nephi 2:26-27). If we had no Savior, we would be in captivity to our weaknesses, sins, and the conditions of mortality. It is Jesus Christ who makes us free (see John 8:36). 

Throughout the earth’s history, the principle of moral agency has not been universally honored. Too many of God’s children have been—and still are—oppressed. At the same time, God has been inspiring His children to protect “that principle of freedom [that] belongs to all mankind” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:5). A key event in that effort happened 250 years ago: The Declaration of Independence was signed, leading to the establishment of the United States of America and its other founding document, the US Constitution. It’s appropriate, as citizens of the United States, to pause and give thanks for the freedoms these documents preserve for us. And it’s equally appropriate, as Latter-day Saints, to recognize God’s purposes and role in those founding events (see Doctrine and Covenants 101:77-80). This [celebration of America] is an opportunity to rejoice in “the Lord our God, who has redeemed us and made us free” (Alma 58:41).

God’s work and glory is to “bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution help to accomplish God’s purposes for His children by protecting our freedom to choose.

In the early years after the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members of the Church were persecuted because of their religion. In 1833, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that He had a part in establishing “the Constitution of this land” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:80. Here are the words of the Lord as recorded by Joseph Smith.

76 And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you—

77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.

80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

The Saints were being persecuted, and the Lord told Joseph Smith to “importune [to the US Government] for redress and redemption.” God wanted the Saints to use the laws of the land and the very Constitution that He had established by men who were “raised up unto this very purpose.” According to the words of the Lord, the blood shed in the Revolutionary War had redeemed this land.

God was there when Americans fought for freedom in the Revolutionary War, and He was there to inspire the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. He will be with us as we use our moral agency to defend and protect our freedom of religion. Also, moral agency flourishes in conditions of freedom.