Lessons on Freedom and Patriotism
Lesson No. Fourteen
The Constitution and the Battle for Religious Freedom
Our Constitution reversed the long history of religious oppression – For centuries the church and state were one and the same. Ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights changed this. Elder Dallin Oakes observed: “The United States Constitution was the first written constitution in the world. Frequently copied it has become this nation’s most important export in that every nation in the world but six have adopted a written constitution and ours was the model for all of them” (Ensign, February 1992 The Divinely Inspired Constitution).
The battle for religious freedom – "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." These first sixteen words of the Bill of Rights are the foundation of our religious freedom. There are two parts - the establishment clause which prohibits favoring one religion over another, and the free exercise clause which is to preserve individual freedom of conscience and worship. Both parts were required for the gospel to be restored, and they are necessary so the gospel can be taken to other nations. For this reason religious freedom is America’s most important contribution to the world.
The first front in the battle for freedom was the War of Independence which brought political and economic freedom from England. The second front was the war for individual freedom of conscience and worship and against state sponsored religion. The ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights was a victory, but the battle continues. In speaking to the rising generation on October 13, 2009 at BYU-Idaho Elder Dallin H. Oaks said: "There is a battle over the meaning of [religious] freedom. The contest is of eternal importance, and it is your generation that must understand the issues and make the efforts to prevail."
The First Vision brought a marvelous flood of light which is dawning worldwide – The First Vision ushered in the restoration of the gospel and it also brought a great increase in economic, political, and religious freedom. The Wall Street Journal on November 1, 1999 in an article entitled The Millennium-Poor Until 1820 observed that the last millennium can be broken into three periods – from 1000 to 1500, from 1500 to 1820, and from 1820 to today. There was practically no economic or population growth during the first two periods. However, beginning in 1820 both economic and population growth multiplied many times over. The fruit of economic and population growth were produced by the First Vision which also gave great strength to the roots of freedom.
Testimony of the future – In a private conversation Elder Dallin Oaks told me that the that the greatest challenge to the Church in fulfilling its mission to take the gospel to the world is the increasing effort in many nations, including the United States, to limit religious freedom. There is a great need to work hard to maintain religious freedom. Our heritage is built on the foundation of political, economic, and particularly religious freedom. Religious freedom is a necessary part of the plan of salvation.
We were “set up as a free people by the power of the Father” (3 Nephi 21:4). And as God raised up founding patriots to establish the Constitution, he will raise up other patriots, like Abraham Lincoln, by whom he will maintain the Constitution. (See D&C 101:80) The Lord intends that basic principles upon which our Constitution was established become the pattern for entire world. In this way the Lord will insure there is the freedom necessary so the gospel can be taken to all the nations of the earth.
It is my hope that we will be among those patriots who the Lord will use to establish freedom world-wide. This is in great part being done by missionaries who teach the gospel to the people of the earth.