RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE

The compatibility of libertarianism with the gospel principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is never more evident than in their respective concepts of religious freedom. The Church’s eleventh article of faith states: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/articles-of-faith?lang=eng The Church has published a section that is included in the Gospel Library App https://rikers.org/lds/manuals/TeachingNoGreaterCall/05.html entitled Gospel Topics which includes more than 170 individual topics, one of which is “Religious Freedom”. Religious freedom includes not only the right to worship in accordance with one’s own beliefs but also the right to speak and act based upon those beliefs. In a modern revelation, God has said that laws should be “maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh,…that every man may act…according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:77-78). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/title-page?lang=eng In another revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith God declares that governments cannot “exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience” (Doctrine and Covenants 134: 2). This means that in addition to the possession of these religious rights for ourselves we are bound to provide the same freedom to others. Joseph Smith, in a discourse given on July 9, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois, declared , “I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves”. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-statement-religious-freedom-pluralismThe Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, codified that sentiment in an ordinance guaranteeing tolerance for all faiths: “Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, the the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Quakers, Episcopals, Universalists;, Unitarians, Mohammedans (Muslims), and all other religious sects and denominations whatever, shall have free toleration, and equal privileges in this city”.

The parallels involved between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the political philosophy of libertarianism are strikingly similar. They both represent the ideals of liberty, hence the name “libertarian”. As a political party it could be called the Freedom Party, and in some places probably is. Liberty is a concept that embodies the lack of arbitrary restraint. In matters of conscience it requires only that one’s actions do not cause harm to another person or to that person’s property. The form that such harm might take includes overt actions and omissions. It can be physical, emotional, pecuniary, time sensitive, or even statutory. Anything that prevents, delays, or encumbers in any manner the free exercise of one’s religion or conscience also offends the philosophical concept of liberty in other areas of human endeavor.

The basic human right of religious freedom was recognized as the business of governments to guarantee under the social contract conceived by John Locke. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0149.1968.tb00369.x Among his works is a document entitled “Letter Concerning Toleration”, http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1651-1700/john-locke-letter-concerning-toleration-1689.php This was a treatise concerning religious freedom that was instrumental in the formation The Declaration of Independence plainly lists the human rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the responsibilities of a just government. The right to liberty includes religious liberty. The first article of the Bill of Rights contains the prohibition that, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment Notice that there are two parts to this government prohibition. They are recognized as the “establishment clause” and the and the “free exercise clause”. The establishment clause concerns the establishment of a state religion which was what some of the original arrivals in America were fleeing as they frequently banned religious churches, sects and practices other than the religion established by the state. The free exercise clause seeks to prevent the often onerous methods used against religious practices frowned upon by the government. As we shall see these are lofty principles that are difficult to establish and maintain. Never the less, the American experiment was the greatest and most successful in western history.

The Lockean form of social contract under which the United States government was established through the constitution and Bill of Rights was an important factor guaranteeing sufficient religious freedom to allow Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and establish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in practice they were not sufficient to prevent the severe religious persecution that the members of the early Church endured. It is not my purpose here to study or report in any detail the early history of the Church regarding that persecution, much of which came from the federal, state and local governments including the infamous Extermination Order signed by Missouri governor Boggs, or the federal government’s confiscation of Church property and other assets in the Utah territory. But that and other examples of religious persecution from which the Pilgrims were fleeing, or their own form of it in the ensuing Salem witch trials, or the rampant persecution of Catholics in the original Colonies all serve to prove the necessity of religious freedom if a society is to be free.

This brings us to the question: Why is religious freedom so important to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? This has much more to do with the world today than it did to the conditions under which the Church was restored in the first half of the 19th century. Persecution may have been rampant then, even severe, but what are we facing today? Are the evils of Marxism, or the totalitarian dictatorships around the world, or the soft racism and identity politics of the postmodern political philosophies taught as forms of social justice on university campuses as dangerous now as in the past. Some may say that religious freedom is in a more precarious position now than ever before. Modern prophets including Russell M. Nelson, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints warn of difficult times ahead. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/religious-freedom/religious-freedom?lang=eng