Freedom of Religion

Two hundred and fifty years ago, on April 19, 1775, the “shot heard round the world” began the American Revolution. As we have just celebrated July 4, it is fitting that we reflect on the blessings we have gained from that fledgling beginning. Specifically, I would like to call to mind the precious blessing of freedom of religion. For those who believe in God, it is the freedom to follow the dictates of their own consciences, and for those who do not, it is the same. Thus the Founding Fathers instituted in the Bill of Rights the establishment clause; that there should be no national established religion.

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Church in Connecticut wrote of an “impregnable wall” that protected the churches from intrusion and interference by government, rather than the other way around. Today, many use the phrase “separation of church and state” to describe this division. Some even, mistakenly, believe this phrase to be written in the Constitution. It is instructive that the first freedom protected in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights is religious freedom: no establishment of one religion, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” of any religion. The first amendment does not, however, prohibit one from bringing their religious beliefs with them into the public forum of government.

Thomas Jefferson, the red-haired wonder, penned the words of the Declaration of Independence which states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Unalienable: rights given to us by God and thus can’t be taken away by man. Our government's job is to “secure,” not grant, these rights. As the Preamble to the Constitution states: “…and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” First and foremost of those freedoms is religious freedom.

The Declaration of Independence and Our Constitution are truly divinely inspired documents. What the founding fathers accomplished was miraculous—and the framers of the Constitution knew it! They acknowledged God’s hand in laying the foundations of this country. In the opening words of the Declaration they state that they are entitled to the separation from England because they are entitled to it by “Nature's God.” In the final words of that Declaration they state: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

This was not an idle pledge. The prophet Ezra Taft Benson said, “This Declaration was a promise that would demand terrible sacrifice on the part of its signers. Five of the signers were captured as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War; another had two sons captured. Nine died from wounds or from the hardships of the war. Nephi recorded that the Founders ‘were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations’ (1 Ne. 13:19).”

During his first inaugural address in 1789, President George Washington said, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

It is no wonder that, not only these founding fathers who declared their independence on divine providence, but the Constitution they penned and the freedoms they determined to secure, are under attack today. They both proclaim the freedom of man and set this government up to secure those freedoms; those Natural Rights of Man.

The apostle Robert D Hales wrote, “As we walk the path of spiritual liberty in these last days, we must understand that the faithful use of our agency depends upon our having religious freedom. We already know that Satan does not want this freedom to be ours. He attempted to destroy moral agency in heaven, and now on earth he is fiercely undermining, opposing, and spreading confusion about religious freedom—what it is and why it is essential to our spiritual life and our very salvation.”

President Benson listed four things we could do to protect religious freedom:

We must be righteous.

We must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers.

We must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented.

We must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice.

How do we do this? We must rely on repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ and His righteousness and we must become involved.

I believe the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which states, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

May we so do, in the name of our Savior, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

Virginia (Ginger) Pettijohn is a retired US History and Civics Teacher which she taught at Wasilla Middle School for 32 years. She and her husband were both born in Alaska and have 5 children and 14 grandchildren. They are all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.