The title is how Elder Dallin H Oaks started his talk today at devotional.
And what a great Devotional.
I was privileged to sing in this devotional. (And thus guaranteed a ticket to the Hart auditorium :) We sang Hope of Israel and it went very well. I enjoy that song and it was just as powerful as it could have been.
Singing aside, Elder Oaks talk was something to behold. He spoke of a war that we are in. But not the war with Satan that has been going on since the war in heaven. And not the war with the natural man that we all must face. He dealt with a slightly more temporal war though not without real ramifications.
Elder Oaks addressed the increasing loss of religious freedom in our country and spoke of it very much with the same rhetoric that we ascribe to the war with Satan. It really was powerful to hear an apostle of the Lord give such a definitive and direct speech.
A few highlights I wrote are as follows:
after speaking about the process of gaining religious freedom and how many nations are on their way to gaining that freedom he stated that the United States has had at its core the most religious freedom allotted to man. He confirmed that the constitution was ordained of God and then quoted the first amendment, and stated he was going to focus on the clause “No law prohibiting the free exercise thereof (religion)”
He said the conflict of religious freedom is in need of our defending. and named at least two major problems in our society that we must address:
1. Silencing Religious voices in the public square.
2. Religious freedoms diluted by other ‘new’ and in some cases ‘Alleged’ civil rights.
He also gave five ways we should conduct ourselves in our fight to defend religious freedom.
1.Speak with love and be patient.
2. Do not be deterred by intimidation or oppression.
3.Insist on freedom to teach our doctrine.
4. Know and defend that we have a right to speak publically but we must be wise in our political engagements.
5. Never support the idea that someone should adhere to some religious test for public office. (against the constitution.)
He made it quite clear that the problems he addressed are going to be the problems that we will face in our lifetime. So it is up to the ‘Hope of Israel’ to make the difference dealing with religious freedom in our age.
I know my paraphrasing does not do justice to everything that Elder Oaks discussed. So I encourage anyone who is interested to look up the talk. It can be watched on: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-says-religious-freedom-is-being-threatened
Or read: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/religious-freedom
It is worth the time.
7 comments:
Wowie. See, and I would be on the other side of that line saying "Yes, we have religious freedom, and always will. But what about the people that seek freedom FROM religion? People who don't really have the ability to escape from religious ideals IN our politics."
aka gays, people with political beliefs differing from biblical ones, etc.
It's going to be a messy lifetime we're going to have.
I understand what your saying but Elder Oaks does adress that. He told us that people seeking religious freedom can't be the agressive ones. (At least that's what I understood from his last of 5 points) We can't impose but we shouldn't be required to leave our religion behind or not be able to speak about it. That's more of what he was dealing with. Elder Oaks does a better job explaining than I ever will I'll leave it up to him.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCrSWSM6V3N-yi3tAJOBlnjwR27wD9BAEL1O0
I think it's a matter that differs entirely from leaving/not talking about your religion to defending it, but not imposing your beliefs on others.
Like in his talk, when he spoke about points dealing with Prop 8. It's all well and good when you are defending your beliefs, and standing protesting, but when you are imposing religious law-- things get FAR messier than they should. The nation is rampant with laws based on a biblical premise. Why? A large-- very large faction of people in this nation are not believers in the bible, but are forced to live laws that go by religious doctrine. Why? Especially when they couldn't disagree more.
And I know that legislature is passed by a majority vote, but when you've got bodies such as the first presidency standing up and defending things like prop 8, their influence spreads far and wide, often preventing people from stopping and thinking about their personal beliefs, because they are the type of members that wouldn't dare go against the beliefs of the church.
Over and out.
Thank you for feeling free to voice your oppinion here Alecia. I love you but I'm not going to argue. We've discussed this before. We know where eachother stands and it will do no good hollerin' here. So I'm done.
You guys both rock, and I won't do anything to disrupt this happy little "group hug" I feel coming on.
But Eric? Can I just say how COOL it is that you got to sing in the choir? :D I miss choir sooooo much! Sing your heart out for me!
P.S. Oh, I was meaning to tell you something, Eric. And it has nothing to do with this post, but whatever.
They're rearranging the entire Hobble Creek West Stake . . . except that they're leaving the first ward untouched. :) Seems God doesn't want them to mess with an already perfect ward, eh?
Nope no need to mess with the first ward. :)
Aww, the first ward! And Eric, reading this post made me very excited. It's reassuring to know that the church leadership are aware of the change that is now taking place in our nation and encourage us to defend our civil liberties.
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