The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
As a former law professor, law clerk in the United States Supreme Court and justice in the Utah Supreme Court, President Dallin H. Oaks has “been led through a series of experiences that have enlarged [his] view” on religious liberty.
“If you have not thought seriously about religious freedom,” said President Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, “or if you wonder why it is important, let me encourage you to think about, ‘Where would the absence of religious freedom lead society?’”
He said people today should do more to teach the general public the advantages given to everyone — believer and nonbeliever alike — when religious people have the freedom to worship how they choose.
“Everyone benefits when we have that freedom. But we need to make a better effort to teach that essential fact than any of us have done individually in the past.”
Last year, at the 2022 Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit in Rome, Italy, he called for “a global effort to defend and advance the religious freedom of all the children of God in every nation of the world.” While in Rome, President Oaks spoke with the Church News about the importance of religious liberty to both those of faith and those of no faith. His full remarks will be featured July 4 in this week’s episode of the Church News podcast.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
