Mormon Church

On February 4, Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former state Supreme Court justice spoke at Chapman University School of Law on religious freedom and it’s constitutional history and importance. The Mormon apostle focused on why the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom is important to the future of the United States and on the dangers of religious relativism.

The speech, which received a standing ovation, focused on four main points, that were summarized in this way near the end of his talk:

1. Religious teachings and religious organizations are valuable and important to our free society and therefore deserving of their special protection.
2. Religious freedom undergirds the origin and existence of this country and is the dominating civil liberty.
3. The guarantee of free exercise of religion is weakening in its effects and in public esteem.
4. This weakening is attributable to the ascendancy of moral relativism. 

Elder Oaks reminded listeners that religious freedom was a founding principle of the new nation and that religion has had a powerful and positive influence on the good changes to our nation.

The earliest documents of the country mention God and religion openly, without fear of censorship. The Declaration of Independence warned the king that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights…”  This statement suggests that the founding fathers understood that human rights are derived from God and religious sources, not the secular desires of humans. Many of these unalienable rights, which had their foundations in religious freedom, found their way into the legal system. Elder Oaks reminds us that the Constitution itself has a foundation in religion. “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 populations can sustain that Constitution today. (more…)

The Tabernacle, home of the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was host to a Constitution Day celebration on 17 September 2010. The keynote speaker was Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, he was speaking that day not as a religious leader but as an expert on constitutional law. Elder Oaks helped to revise the Illinois state constitution, worked as a law professor, and served as a state supreme court justice prior to becoming a Mormon apostle.

Elder Oaks addressed the world-wide importance of the Constitution of the United States, which has been used as a model for constitutions world-wide. He pointed out that when we weaken our own constitution, we also weaken the foundations of other nations as well, for this reason.

He cautioned listeners not to use the constitution as a weapon to end debate, but as a tool to begin it. “A public policy or a proposed law that is unwise is not necessarily unconstitutional. Even if it is a stupid proposal, it is not necessarily unconstitutional. A constitution gives the people and their elected leaders the opportunity to make many decisions that are unwise or even reckless. When that happens — when the government or one of its officials engages in some kind of action that we consider to be wrong — we should engage in vigorous public debate about it. But we should not use up a constitution by attempting to strike down every ill-conceived act of government or to discredit every unwise official. A constitution is the ultimate weapon, and we preserve that weapon best by using it sparingly and carefully. If we call some action unconstitutional, we should be prepared to explain what provision or principle of a constitution it violates. In this way, a constitution can be used to stimulate discussion and to seek unity” (Fundamentals of Our Constitutions” – Elder Dallin H. Oaks) (more…)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, member of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles, spoke at Harvard Law School on 26 February 2010. This speech was part of the annual Mormonism 101 series. In the talk, Elder Oaks addressed a number of basic

principles of Mormonism, explaining that a survey showed few people really knew anything at all about Mormons, and what they did know was wrong or misunderstood. (more…)

Personal Response by Karen Trifiletti

You can know the truth for yourself. It is possible. It is more than possible. We were born to know our purpose and to live for it.

While there is a crisis of knowing in our day, truth is in fact knowable, and we have an inborn capacity to know and recognize the truth. That knowledge is discernible, and it is real and absolute. All knowledge is not, as many claim in our day, just a social construct or a relative idea, equal to every other. Truth matters. Truth exists. So you are on the right path if you desire in your mind and heart to know it. It comes to us through the voice of the Spirit, God’s voice to us, His children.

As we desire to know what is true, to find God, or learn about Him, we search for that knowledge by reading, thinking, pondering what we can find that pertains to that truth. We are enlightened in the process through the light of Jesus Christ, which brings understanding to us. We can recognize that burst of light as we connect ideas and thoughts in a way that exceeds our own ability and as we see that we feel and know has come to us from an outside source of revelation in a language we understand and that penetrates us in an unmistakably clear way. As we act on whatever we learn, we are guided further to greater light. (more…)