Freedom of Religion Under Attack

I was going to wait for Sunday to post this, but I believe the topic is just too important to our nation's survival and freedom to wait. I hope you will take the time to listen with your heart as well as your ears. Freedom (of religion too) MUST be zealously defended or extinction is the consequence.

Elder Oaks, a retired attorney and member of the Utah Supreme Court as well as Apostle and former president of BYU, spoke boldly on this important subject. One of our fundamental rights in this nation is in jeopardy. He said people of faith must insist on their constitutional rights to practice their religion and vote their consciences.

The First Amendment, U.S. Constitution, December 15, 1791 says,

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (italics added)

In response to the claims being made against those who speak for traditional marriage he says:

"The marriage union of a man and a woman has been the teaching of the Judeo-Christian scriptures and the core legal definition and practice of marriage in Western culture for thousands of years. Those who seek to change the foundation of marriage should not be allowed to pretend that those who defend the ancient order are trampling on civil rights. The supporters of Proposition 8 were exercising their constitutional right to defend the institution of marriage — an institution of transcendent importance that they, along with countless others of many persuasions, feel conscientiously obliged to protect."

What about OUR right to support traditional marriage and OUR right (even as a religious group) to speak out for our beliefs?

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

"Religious values and political realities are so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of Christianity in the public square without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms. I maintain that this is a political fact, well qualified for argument in the public square by religious people whose freedom to believe and act must always be protected by what is properly called our “First Freedom,” the free exercise of religion."

The full text of his talk is also available here.

Joe Cannon also discussed the topic in the Deseret News here. He quotes George Q. Cannon:

In the midst of these persecutions [against members of the LDS Church in its early history], George Q. Cannon, a leader of the Mormon Church, former editor of this newspaper, and prisoner of conscience, spoke in defense of religious freedom. "Grant to Congress and the Courts the power to define the rights of conscience, and the limit beyond which faith shall not be carried into action, and religious liberty is practically at an end. The battles for spiritual freedom, which have been so nobly fought in generations past, and which have been gained by the sacrifice of so much precious blood, will, so far as we are concerned, have been fought in vain."